Double Jeopardy
by Neuroleptic
Summary: One fight. Two worlds.
1. Chapter 1: Through the Looking Glass

**See my profile for disclaimers, since it takes up too much room to post in every chapter and story I may write. They are applicable for all chapters and stories I may write. **

**_!WARNING!_**

**This story contains _some graphic violence, mild harsh language, and pro homosexuality relationships_. Don't like it? _Don't read it!_ It is not meant to be read by children under the age of 13. I can not and will not be held responsible for your child being strange. **

**_!They were strange when they got here!_**

* * *

**Double Jeopardy **

**Chapter 1: Through the Looking Glass**

Ami loved her job as a science teacher at Juuban Middle school. Really she did. She taught in many of the same rooms she herself had once been a student in. She enjoyed the subject she taught, which she hoped showed to her students. She felt she contributed to society in her line of work. She also enjoyed the familiar setting as she ate lunch near the same bench and tree her friends had eaten lunch by when they attended. At twenty-nine, this made her feel young again. And she just loved teaching. Yes, Ami loved her job.

Everything about it but the last four minutes of the last class for the day, that is. That was when she had to scramble to finish her final lecture of the day, and tell 30 students what their homework assignment was before they ran out the door at breakneck speed. This was particularly hard today since it was a Friday.

Even though the bell hadn't rung, she was already having to listen to the sounds of books being closed, backpacks zipped up and students chattering excitedly. Some students were already standing up and stretching as if they were preparing to run a marathon to the door. Every time she saw them do this, no matter how hard she tried, it always made her feel her students saw her as a boring adult, and didn't give a damn about her or her class. In short, it hurt her feelings a bit.

She spoke calmly and rapidly as her losing battle with the second hand came to its unavoidable conclusion. "Now, I need you to read chapters 4 through . . . _Pay Attention_! 8 during break and answer the questions at _stop staring at the clock and listen to me please_ the end of each chapter. Try to remember the important information on Boyle's Law in chapter 7. You will be tested on this when you get back. You all have my cell phone _quiet down back there I'm not finished_ number so if you have any questions just give me a call, and-"

Just then the bell rang out, interrupting Ami and reminding her she had lost her race once again to a darn timekeeping device. Ami quietly slunk back to her desk, currently piled with the last tests of the semester she had to grade, and watched as all of her students leaped out of their seats and ran for the door, some of them getting stuck between each other and the door frame in their mad rush. All of her students, that is, except one.

Hotaru quietly wrote down the last of the notes that Ami had scribbled down on the board so fast there were actually spelling mistakes. As always, she quietly and orderly packed up her supplies, then walked over to Ami's desk to say goodbye before going to the parking lot to meet up with her Haruka Papa for the journey home.

Once the rest of her classmates had left, Hotaru told Ami, trying to cheer her up, "It really was a good lesson today. The visual aids on buoyancy were helpful in your explanation, and I think most of them took the time to write down the homework assignment. By the way, it was kind of you to give us so little homework for break." Then she added, a little more irritated, "Some of the other teachers weren't as kind."

The blue-haired woman sighed, and said, sounding tired, frustrated, and a little embarrassed, "Thank you Hotaru, but you don't have to stick up for me. I just hate it when they rush out like that." Ami took off her glasses to rub her eyes for a moment. She had to wear glasses all the time now because her eyes had gotten worse when she turned seventeen. She put her glasses back on, then said, sounding more enthusiastic, "So! What are your plans for the weekend?"

"Well, let's see . . . " The girl said excitedly holding up her hands as if she needed them to help count the activities, "Haruka Papa, Setsuna Mama, Michiru Mama and myself are going to attend Haruka Papa's race at the Tokyo Five Hundred tomorrow. Next we are planning on doing some shopping at the mall, then I was thinking you and I could go to the restaurant were Makoto works and . . . "

Ami held up her hand, stopping Hotaru there while smiling, "OK, OK, I get the picture," laughed Ami. "And since you're going to ask anyway, my plans are to finish up my paper in protest to the IAU for 'officially' changing the planet Pluto's classification from planet to dwarf planet. Then I have 5 physics books and a psychology book I'm just dying to read, plus two competing textbooks the school is thinking of using next year to replace your current one for my class. Then maybe wander the net, grade these darn tests,"she said picking up some of the papers for emphasis, "and Minako has insisted that I 'get out of the house for a while'. So I haven't decided what to do when she finally kicks me out of the apartment for a few hours, I have some plans for next Saturday I need to finalize, and . . . outright relax. Maybe even live dangerously and watch some TV."

"Yea . . . exciting . . . well, I have to go or Haruka is going to think you gave me detention or something. See you later!" With that, Hotaru walked calmly out of the room and as soon as she was out of sight, Ami heard the sound of Hotaru's feet carrying her as fast as they could down the hall.

The blue-eyed teacher suddenly remembered something she needed to tell Hotaru. Ami shouted down the hall after her student and fellow protector of the galaxy, "Don't forget to tell Haruka that Minako, Rei, and Usagi plan to go to the race tomorrow!" but she could already tell Hotaru was long gone.

Now that she was alone, the soldier of fresh water packed all her papers in her bag, and took one last look around the classroom before leaving. Ami sighed quietly, thinking about how much she missed being on the other side of the teacher's desk some days. Truth be told, even though she appeared not much older than her students, she was starting to feel her age. Not physically, but in her heart.

Ever since the sailor warriors had reached the age of nineteen, except Hotaru who was younger, and thus still growing, none of them seemed to have aged even though now they were pushing thirty. They all knew they would be alive and relatively young in appearance still by the 30th century, but none of them had really thought about what they were going to do once people started to notice they were simply not aging. Ami had spent countless hours lately thinking about that and being older in general.

"Best not to think about that right now though. I've got a spring break to enjoy!" said the quiet teacher to no one in particular. "Just out of curiosity though . . . " Ami casually looked up and down both sides of the hall, checking to see if anyone was around as she walked out of her room. She quietly started walking down the hallway. Then, as a huge smile formed on her face, she too ran as fast as she could for the nearest exit to her car, ignoring the looks of disapproval and surprise from other teachers tidying up their classrooms.

* * *

A little later, Makoto was also getting off of work. Makoto now managed a restaurant called Panda Paradise Restaurant and Bakery. She had just left a meeting with the owner of the restaurant that had put a huge smile on her face. A meeting she couldn't wait to tell her friends about! The green-eyed woman was so caught up in her joy as she skipped down the street, that as she turned a corner going back to her apartment she almost didn't realize she was about to trample a very familiar pedestrian.

"Hey Makoto! If you don't slow down you're going to kill someone!" laughed her friend Minako, as she changed direction and skipped down the sidewalk beside Makoto. "I haven't seen you smile like this for quite a while. What's up?"

"Nice to see you too, Mina-chan." Makoto stopped skipping and started walking like a normal human being, reining in her joy before she really did step on someone. At 6 feet even, Makoto was a bit of a giant in Tokyo. Even still, she couldn't keep the happiness out of her voice as she spoke to her long-time friend. "I just got some good news from the owner of the restaurant I work at. I want to wait till we all get together Wednesday though, so I can let everyone know."

"Well can you give me a hint? I promise not to broadcast it across town like I did last time Ami told me about your promotion." Minako meant literally broadcasting too since Minako now had a job as a morning radio DJ.

"I haven't forgotten about that. All the more reason for me to wait. So . . . uh, how is Ami anyway? I've been so busy lately in the bakery training new staff I haven't spoken to her for about a month now." At the mention of Ami's name Makoto went from being happy to feeling suddenly a bit worried. The Senshi of thunder hoped that her blonde, scatter-brained friend wouldn't notice her sudden change in mood.

"Ami? She's fine. She's been spending a lot of her free time lately in her room again, though. I worry about her. It's like I live in that apartment by myself some days. Well other than Artemus that is. He is usually yelling at me to clean up or some other thing the moment I walk through the door. I think they BOTH need to get out more. To be fair though, Artemus does sneak out to raid the neighborhood's garbage cans on trash day and to see Luna. I don't know. It could be worse, I suppose. I could be rooming with someone who didn't pay their share of the rent and bills on time, or worse yet! With Rei! Can you picture me living at a Shinto shrine? That's a lot of work to do, what Rei does. I shouldn't complain, really. At least I get lots of privacy with Ami as a roommate. I'm going to toss her out of the place for 3 days next week, _minimum_. Got the new locks and everything. Speaking of which -- do you mind if she crashes at your place when I begin my little plot? I've got a suitcase packed for the occasion already and everything!"

Minako had spoken so fast that Makoto wasn't sure the blonde had taken a breath. It also took her a moment to catch up to what she had asked. "Wha . . . ? I guess she can stay with me a few days . . . I have an extra room in my new place. It'd be nice to have the company, too. Just make sure it's OK with her before you ask. I don't want her feeling like she is imposing on me or anything. You know how she is."

Now the taller woman looked down at her shorter companion and said seriously, "I don't want her getting the thought that this was my crazy idea either. I'm not going to stop her if she tries to kill you this time, by the way. Really Minako, throwing her out of her own place is a little low, even if Ami could use some fresh air. I mean, her name _is_ on the lease, you know." Then Makoto smiled and said, "You know if I hadn't known better, I'd say Ami planned this from the beginning just to get some peace and quiet from you and your loud music. It's far more clever than your usual antics!"

Minako looked up at her friend sweetly, and said as if she were completely innocent, "Cool -- so it's a deal then! Well, I gotta go. See ya soon!" Then as she ran full speed down the sidewalk, she shouted over her shoulder to Makoto, sounding a little irritated, "By the way, Ami is starting to like my collection of American pop music!"

Once Minako was out of sight from Makoto, she whispered to herself , feeling rather clever for what she felt she was setting in motion, "The Senshi of love strikes again! HA HA!"

* * *

Minako and Ami shared a small, two-bedroom apartment with Artemus. The front door opened into the living room and kitchen with a small hallway running to the two bedrooms and the bathroom. Other than their bedrooms, which were highly individualized, the place was sparsely decorated. It wasn't much, but it was home for the three of them.

Ami unlocked the door to the apartment, dropped her bag full of papers by the door, and went straight to her room. Ami's bedroom wasn't very big, but it was the place she was the most comfortable in the entire world. It was organized and tidy, but it was crammed full of various things. She had a small twin bed off to the far corner with a simple blue bed set. In the other corner near the window was a desk with a lamp and a high-tech computer she had built herself. There were stacks of books near the desk ready for her to list on the BookCrossing website or to read. On the wall was a signed Starlights poster and several pictures of all of her friends and family. There were three bookshelves full of books on nearly every topic, two file cabinets, and a dresser.

Ami sat down at her desk and booted up her computer. All the information in the world was at her fingertips when she was here. But Ami wasn't really interested in surfing the net, or reading up on the latest scientific advancements at the moment. She was more interested in the chat program and chatting with someone she had come to think of as very special.

Unfortunately, CherryPieLover wasn't online. Ami had been somewhat dating Cherry online for three months now. Partially for safety, and because Ami was just plain shy, they had yet to see a picture of the other. Also, they both were a little jittery about friends finding out their sexual preference, and again, to play it safe, the two women had not met in person, though they were planning on doing so soon.

Ami decided to look at more pictures she had of her friends on her computer. She had them as far back as 1995 and up to the present. Her conversation with Hotaru earlier had caused her to think about her long-time crush, who Ami was pretty sure felt they were just friends. Ami opened up one of the picture files of Makoto and got lost in the image's green eyes for some time. She felt a little guilty still having feelings for Makoto, now that she had PieLover, but she knew Makoto just wasn't available. So, that was that.

Suddenly, just as Ami was closing the image, a box appeared in the center of the screen.

CherryPieLover: I just got the most wonderful news and I've got to share it with someone before I burst!

Ami suddenly felt childishly excited just to see that Cherry was online as she typed her message back.

PBJ1978: I love you too. I take it I'm the first to hear this wonderful news?

CherryPieLover: Yes. I plan on telling the rest of my friends when we get together later in the week, but since we have never met in person, I figure I can tell you now and not have them feel jellous. They tend to all want to be the first to know.

PBJ1978: Ha ha! Sounds like my group of friends. I can't wait to meet you in person. We ARE still on for next Saturday, right? (Oh, and by the way, you misspelled jealous)

CherryPieLover: Hey! Don't change the subject! And yes. 8:30PM just as we planned. Speaking of restaurants, let's go back to what I was trying to tell you for a moment. The owner of mine has decided to sell me the restaurant at a fairly big loss to her since she has more than enough to retire and because she thinks I will keep it running with pride.

PBJ1978: You weren't kidding. That IS wonderful! You'll have to tell me where you work once we meet so I can try the food. You keep teasing me about your cooking skills compared to my typical lunch. Hope your skills with a skillet are as good as you boast!

The two secret lovers talked for a while after that, until suddenly Ami heard the front door open. Ami quickly typed up an apology, then closed the program and opened up the program with her paper for the IAU just in time for Minako to throw open the door to Ami's room.

"How many times do I have to ask you to knock before entering?" asked Ami, looking over the top of her glasses at Minako as she spoke.

"Two or three more times should do it," answered the blond cheerfully. "So whatchyaupto?"

"Working," Ami said simply, as she gestured at her computer screen. Then she sat back in her chair as she swiveled it so she was facing Minako and asked, "So what kind of social nightmare are you going to try to drag me into now?"

At that comment, Minako looked a little disappointed. "That's not fair. I know I screwed up when I tried to set you up with that last guy. I'm only trying to help you out, you know. You've always got some kind of report to write or tests to grade, or some computer program or bit of research to do lately. I swear you're losing some skin color. You really do need to get out a little more. I thought we would just go out to dinner for the night. I've already arranged for us to eat at Usagi and Mamoru's house."

Ami looked up finally and spoke to Minako as if she were a small child. "Minako, you know I'm a teacher. I have to study to keep up with current information and changes to the scientific world." Then Ami blurted out before she realized what she was saying, "and it may please you to know I have a date next Saturday. So quit bothering me about going out!" As soon as she finished Ami turned beet red.

Minako looked at Ami with her mouth and eyes wide open for a moment, then stammered out, "Since when? But I was going to -- But you never -- How did you . . . That's great!" Then Minako, now leaning on the door frame added with a cheesy grin, "So who is the lucky guy?"

Ami, still turning yet another shade of red, answered, "Look, Minako, it's nothing OK? I'm just going to meet up with someone I have an interest in and see where things go. Probably won't even go past the first date with my luck. Uh . . . You were saying something about going out to eat? Great Idea! Get going!" At this point, Ami was pushing Minako out her room and toward the front door. "You go out and have a great time, and I'll finish, uh . . . " Ami reached down and grabbed the bag with papers she had sat down next to the door earlier. "I'll grade these! Yeah, that's it. I'll grade these. You go have a great evening out on the town and let me know how it goes, OK? Bye!"

Minako had just enough time to get out, "But I --" before Ami closed and locked the apartment door.

As she leaned against the door for a moment, Ami decided a nice warm shower would help calm her down a bit. It wasn't often that she told anyone about her personal affairs because it made her uncomfortable wondering what people would think or assume. Even her closest friends. So she made her way to the bathroom, undressed and stepped into the shower. The warm water felt good on her skin and seemed to wash away all her fears and uneasiness about herself. Once she felt like herself again, she got out, dried off, and wrapped a towel around herself, then she looked at her reflection in the large mirror over the sink.

Deep blue eyes stared back at her as she thought about the day's events. She closed her eyes for a moment, sighing, realizing the shower hadn't made her forget as much as she wanted.

Ever since she was a kid, romance made her uncomfortable. So, she had spent most of her teen years with her face hidden behind books. It had taken her many years to fully understand the reason for it, and when she finally admitted to herself that she was a homosexual, she had originally felt like she had a huge weight lifted from her shoulders that she hadn't noticed existed until that moment. Unfortunately it also made her feel stressed.

Japan is a very conservative country to live in, so being openly gay isn't common even in the homosexual community. This made her feel she had to hide this fact from her family as well as coworkers. She felt bad for not even telling the other Senshi. It wasn't that she was worried about loosing their acceptance however. Ami knew her friends would accept her for who she was no matter what. It had more to do with how embarrassed she would be if Makoto found out how she felt about her.

On top of that, getting older made her situation even worse. The thought of spending a lifetime that could potentially last thousands of years, or more, experiencing watching the person she fell in love with aging and dying long before she would over and over was a terrifying one to Ami. Or worse yet, spending that long lifespan totally alone. She loved her friends, but she longed for a more intimate relationship. It made that part of her life that much more difficult, since she was still painfully shy when it came to dating, and she was a closet lesbian. As she looked at her reflection a moment more, she started to feel angry at her own face in the mirror.

"You worry about everything, you know that? Just once why can't you say to hell with the consequences! Break the stupid rules of society, since they are unfair! Let yourself fall in love, and just take the moment already! Its no one's business but your own if things actually work out or not with you and Cherry, so stop worrying about it!" She stared at her reflection a moment more, as if waiting for a response. Ami could feel all her frustration with herself coming to a boil. Years of loneliness were finally starting to take a toll on the Senshi of water, now that she couldn't hide from her feelings behind books or mountains of extra homework. Even though she knew it wouldn't make her feel any better and would probably break the mirror, Ami brought up her hand and tried to slap her own reflection as hard as she could.

That was when everything started. Her hand passed through the glass, causing the glass surface to ripple like water, and she felt her hand smack against someone's face. Ami quickly drew back her hand and looked back at her reflection with shock as the water-like mirror smoothed itself back out. Her reflection, on the other hand, now with a red cheek, bore a different expression than hers. One of rage.

Then Ami watched as the background in the mirror changed entirely from a reflection of the wall behind her to solid black. Her reflection backed up several feet and ran forward.

"I must be dreaming," said Ami out loud, then she screamed in terror as her reflection jumped through the mirror, smashing it and sending glass flying everywhere. Ami felt the sharp glass cut into her skin, realizing with growing anxiety that it wasn't a dream by a long shot, as she staggered away from a literal mirror copy of herself as it stood in front of her.

The clone copy looked at her curiously, then, as if remembering its purpose, it said simply and with a little sarcasm, "Goodnight," as she grabbed the stunned Ami's head with both hands and smashed it against the counter as hard as she could. Ami felt a sharp pain, heard herself groan loudly in agony, then everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2: Double Trouble

**Double Jeopardy **

**Chapter 2: Double Trouble**

Makoto knew that her online girlfriend had a tendency to disconnect quickly, due to an apparently rude roommate. So when PBJ1978 typed out in the middle of a conversation that she had to go for a moment, Makoto wasn't surprised when she signed off. Makoto decided to wait since usually PB came back after only a few minutes or at most 20. Friday was typically their day to chat. The closest they could get to 'alone time' until they met in person. The two would talk about anything and nothing long into the night before turning in.

When PB didn't come on, Makoto started to worry. She told herself that things just come up sometimes. Maybe PB was having computer problems or something. Makoto typed out an email telling PB she would try to be around if she decided to come on line later. Then Makoto turned up the volume on her computer so she could hear the chime anywhere in the apartment if PBJ1978 sent a message and decided to find something else to do.

She decided to tidy up the spare room since she now had it on good authority that Ami would be visiting soon. She had recently moved into her new place and hadn't even finished decorating. As she cleaned, she found her thoughts wandering about the woman who had helped her move in, namely, Ami. Makoto had realized long ago that her and Ami would never have a relationship, but whenever she thought she was over her feelings for her unrequited love, she would find herself longing for it yet again. That was one thing Ami had in common with her old Sempai. Although Ami was a girl, she had a few qualities that reminded Makoto of him. Ami was intelligent, had beautiful eyes, and was downright cute when she blushed. Makoto had never told Ami this because she thought it would actually scare Ami to know how Makoto really felt about her.

That was what she found so attractive about PB now that she was on the subject of people Ami had things in common with. The two seemed so much alike in Makoto's mind that it was almost uncanny. They were both smart, shy, easily embarrassed, and much to Makoto's annoyance corrected her spelling and grammar to no end.

Though despite being a lot like Ami, PB had a few qualities Ami didn't have. PB seemed to have a lot more confidence in herself than Ami did. She was also willing to talk about subjects that Ami would probably have curled up and died on the spot just hearing others discuss. Makoto giggled to herself on that thought. The woman could be rather, uh, shocking when she wanted to be. The one other quality they didn't seem to share in Makoto's eyes was that PBJ1978 was more of a go-getter. If she wanted something, Makoto felt that nothing in the world would stop the woman from getting it. Ami, on the other hand, could be scared out of things she seemed to really want, just by worrying about what others would think of her.

Makoto was so lost in her thoughts that she had stopped cleaning the room altogether. Somehow she found herself back at her computer. She checked the time on the menu bar and was surprised to see nearly two hours had gone by. That was a problem when living on her own sometimes. Makoto could lose track of time for hours. Much to her disappointment, however, PB still hadn't come back. Makoto didn't have much time to dwell on it though, because a few moments later the phone rang.

"Kino residence, Makoto speaking," she answered politely. As the caller on the other end spoke, Makoto's mood quickly changed.

* * *

When Makoto got to the emergency room's waiting area she saw her friends surrounding a woman who was speaking to them. At first Makoto thought it was Ami. When she got closer, she realized it wasn't Ami, but her mother.

Makoto got close enough to hear Ami's mother finish up. "In short, she should be fine. Once we release her, she should take it easy for about a month. She may act a little strange for a little while after this. Some of it will probably be related to head trauma, and some to being a little scared by what happened." Then to Makoto she said calmly, "I'm sorry Makoto, but I have to be getting back to work. Your friends can fill you in." With that Dr. Mizuno went back into the ER.

"Sorry it took me so long. I wasn't quite sure where to go so I wound up stopping by Ami and Minako's apartment then when I found the note on the door I headed here." Makoto looked at Usagi and said, "Well? Do what the doctor ordered and fill me in already!"

Usagi answered, "I told you already Mako-chan. The three of us were out eating dinner, then when we finished that, we went back to Minako's to watch a movie. When we got there, we found they had been robbed and Ami was left knocked out on the bathroom floor, so we brought her here. They say she has a concussion but that it's not serious and she should be able to leave tomorrow."

Rei sighed, then said doing her best impression of Usagi, "No Odango head, what you said was, EEEEEK! Ami-chan has been attacked! HELP!" Makoto felt Rei's impression of Usagi's phone call wasn't too bad. Then Rei added, "and you couldn't have told Makoto about Ami's concussion because Dr. Mizuno just told _us_!"

Mamoru spoke up next. "We think it was a simple burglary attempt. It looks like someone picked the lock to the apartment, and sucker-punched Ami from behind while she was just getting out of the shower. The place was a mess when we got there. Ami had already come to when we found her. She was extremely confused. I don't think she remembers what happened to her." Then he glanced over at Minako and said, "I'll let Minako fill you in on the rest."

Minako had moved away from the main group to a less crowded part of the emergency room, waiting for Makoto. Once Makoto got to her, Minako had her follow her to the women's room.

Once inside, and after making sure no one else was there, Minako said, "The outer planetary Senshi apologize for not being here, but their all out on patrol looking for anything unusual. Setsuna is really worried about this. She says that this isn't supposed to happen according to the time stream, and that she feels there is a lot more going on than a simple burglary."

Minako stopped talking for a moment when she heard a quiet sound. Once she finished double checking to make sure no one was listening in, she continued. "She thinks we are facing a new threat that isn't supposed to happen. Her suggestion for the moment is that we should all stay at least in pairs to be on the safe side for the time being, and I agree with her. Usagi and Mamoru are married so they're not a problem. Ami and I live together, and the outer planetary senshi live together. So that leaves you and Rei. I hope you like Rei, Makoto, because you two get to hash it out over who moves where for the time being."

Sometimes, Makoto felt Minako took her role as leader of the inner planetary senshi a little too far. This was one of those times. "Come on, Minako. I've lived on my own for nearly twenty years now, not to mention through every single threat we have ever faced in the past. Rei can more than handle herself in a fight. I'm not doing it even if you put your foot down about it." Then with a slight smirk she added, "Besides, Rei wont stand for it."

Minako spoke very seriously to Makoto, almost uncharacteristically so. "Rei has already agreed and packed before coming. So where ever you decide to go, she's going with you. Her grandfather can run the shrine for a while by himself. I know how you like your privacy, Makoto, and I'm sorry. Please don't make me make this an order. This is for the good of the team." Then she added, pleading, "If you won't do it for your own safety, at least do it for Rei's. And it's only until we figure out what's going on, if anything at all."

The door to the restroom flew open with a bang, causing Minako to nearly jump out of her skin. Rei walked in, saying quickly, "Come on you two. They're letting us in to see Ami."

The walk to Ami's hospital room seemed long and quiet while everyone was lost in their own thoughts. They went up what seemed like several floors in an elevator, then made so many turns that Makoto was sure they were going to all get lost on their way out. Once they reached the wing Ami was somewhere entombed in, a nurse's aid showed them the way to her room then informed them they would only have ten minutes to see her, and afterward they would have to leave so Ami could get some rest.

Ami's hospital room was very small. There was just enough room for the bed, a path around the bed on all sides, a small folding chair next to the bed, and a small bathroom off to the right. An equally small low hanging TV was hanging on the wall with a show that clearly interested no one.

"Hi guys," Ami said weakly from her bed as her friends entered the room and formed a semicircle around the bed. Ami had a large bruise on the side of her head and several small cuts on her face. She looked tired, but happy to see her friends at last. "They say I can go home tomorrow afternoon. Any volunteers to retrieve me?"

Minako said happily, "Haruka plans to pick you up after the race tomorrow."

"Do you remember anything about what happened?" asked Makoto, ducking under the TV to get to a better vantage point, and doing her best not to hover over Ami in her concern for the shorter woman.

Ami closed her eyes, trying to concentrate through a tremendous headache, and said, "No. All I remember was drying off and starting to brush my hair, then waking up on the floor surrounded by broken glass, with a splitting headache."

Usagi handed Ami a bouquet of roses with a big bright colored balloon that had GET WELL SOON written on it. Indicating the balloon, Usagi said, "We mean it too, Ami. We need you right now, ya know? How are we supposed to find out what happened to you without our strategist?"

Ami smiled up at her longtime friend and said, "Thank you, Serena".

All of her friends looked down at her with worried expressions on their faces. Rei and Makoto shared a quick glance of confusion at each other. Minako stood there with her mouth half open as if to say something then thought better of it and clamped her mouth shut. Usagi blinked, looking completely lost for words. Mamoru finally spoke up. "Ami? Her name is Usagi. You know that, right?"

Ami looking puzzled said, "Oh. That's what I said, isn't it?"

"No. You called me Serena, Ami. Are you sure you're OK? Should we get a doctor?"

Ami seemed concerned as she fiddled with the hospital armband on her wrist for a moment, then said, "No no, I'm fine. I think I just need some rest for tonight." Then more confidently, she added, "Don't worry about me. I'll have my mom right here by my side most of the night. They don't allow visitors after eleven, but she has a bit of pull around here. I'll be fine. I have the best doctor in Tokyo looking out for me, after all."

Minako said, hugging Ami before she left, "If you need anything, just give us a call. We will pick up everything and get here on the triple."

Ami laughed, saying "That's drop everything and be here on the double. Thank you, Mina. I'll let you all know if I need anything. Goodnight."

As the group started heading out of the room and back to their cars, Makoto looked over her shoulder one more time at Ami as she left. She wasn't sure why, but she got the feeling something was out of place.

* * *

It wasn't a dislike for her friends that had Makoto not wanting Rei to stay with her. Far from it. It had a lot more to do with trying to keep her relationship with PBJ a secret. Ever since she had gone on what at the time her friends had thought was a date with Haruka back in high school, Makoto had always worried that they would think differently of her if she tried actually dating women. It had been merely out of wanting to get to know Haruka better and admiration for her, that she had gone on an outing with her and Michiru of course, not for romantic reasons. Makoto admired Haruka for being strong and talented, but also for being unafraid of going after what she wanted and never caring what society thought of her for it. However at the time, her group of friends had apparently assumed it was for romantic reasons. Minako, Usagi, and Rei had all made a pretty big deal about it at the time, and the memory of it had stuck with her. It didn't help much that they still brought it up at times to tease her about it either. Makoto knew they meant it in good fun, but it hurt her feelings sometimes, especially when she was thinking about or was with Ami.

That was also one reason why Makoto had never actively tried to tell Ami her feelings for her. She was afraid that her friends would simply not see her as the same person even though nothing had really changed about her. The other reason she had never asked Ami was simply because when Makoto was honest with herself about it, she was afraid. What if Ami said no? What if she thought it was gross? What if she got angry? What if it changed the way her friends looked at not just her, but Ami on the off chance that she actually said yes? What if . . . the list went on and on.

Because of these thoughts, and if it hadn't been so late, Makoto would have been screaming at the top of her lungs when not just Rei, but Minako entered her apartment later that night as well. Since Minako had made it a rule for the moment that no one was to be by themselves, and Minako's buddy was in the hospital, under the rules of this new little buddy system, Minako had declared she would crash with Makoto and Rei for the night. It was going to be bad enough she was going to have to hide her online relationship from a psychic like Rei for a while, but now she would have a hyper blonde who thought of herself as the living incarnation of cupid living with her for the night too.

Makoto's new apartment was much nicer than her old one. It was on the top floor of a new high-rise apartment building with a balcony and a wonderful view. The living room had a skylight, and the kitchen was much larger than her old one. She also had two bedrooms. Makoto had decided her two uninvited guests could fight over the bed in the spare room.

She had made two rules before she resigned herself to such an invasion of her privacy. No one was allowed in the kitchen because Makoto had just finished organizing it that morning and wanted it kept orderly for at least a little while. The first rule caused a bit of griping. The second rule was, no one was allowed in her bed room or near her computer. Period. Makoto threatened to throw anyone who broke said rules off the side of the balcony just to hear them scream. She looked so serious when she said the last part, that Rei was not so sure the brown haired amazon was kidding.

While Rei was admiring Makoto's new TV and Minako was leaning so far off the balcony that Makoto both was afraid, and hoped at the same time that she would fall off, Makoto took the moment to sneak away and see if PBJ had emailed or sent an instant message to her. Makoto was very thankful that her computer was in her room. She felt disappointed again to see that there were no messages of any kind so she emailed her secret lover to tell her good night, then shut off her computer. Then she changed into her pajamas and went back to the living room to see what her guests were up to.

Minako looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was looking, then pushed open the door to the kitchen and poked her head in. Makoto's new kitchen was huge, but what really interested Minako was the fridge. No doubt, Makoto kept all kinds of homemade goodies in there. She snuck quietly across the tile floor tiptoeing all the way. Then when she was halfway there she felt a hand grab her shoulder. Minako gasped expecting it to be Makoto. Instead when she turned to see who it was, she saw Rei.

The black haired miko whispered to Minako frantically, "Hide, you fool! She's coming!"

Both girls looked frantically for a place to hide in the huge kitchen. Rei decided the cabinet under the sink looked nice and cozy. Minako went for the pantry. Just as they both eased their respective hiding place doors closed, they heard the kitchen door fly open with a bang. Minako nervously gulped down air and looked through the small opening in the door to see Makoto in the center of the kitchen saying to herself, "Where could they be, I wonder?" Makoto was holding something, but Minako couldn't tell what it was. Then Makoto left Minako's view for a moment.

Suddenly when Minako didn't expect it, the pantry door flew open and she was face to face with an angry looking Makoto glaring down at her. Before Minako could say anything in her defense, a pillow came out of no where, smacking her on top of the head and sending feathers flying. Minako ducked around Makoto's second swing running for the kitchen door.

As she ran by Rei's hiding place, Minako screamed "Pillow Fight!" Then she continued on to find herself a defensive weapon that matched with the rules of conflict in such matters.

With that Rei came out of hiding, getting whomped with a pillow on the behind by Makoto. The three of them then wound up in the living room, running around the coffee table in circles like a bunch of little kids.

With all the excitement about Ami's ordeal, then later her guests altering her nightly ritual, and PBJ1978 not contacting her at all, there was little sleep to be had by Makoto Kino. She still made herself get out of bed on time in the morning though. One good thing about living on your own since the age of ten. You learned to get moving in the morning no matter what. Besides, she now had a business to run. It would hardly set an example for her employees to show up late for her first day as 'The Boss'.

As soon as Makoto finished her shower and was dressed for work she immediately regretted opening the bathroom door to leave. The moment she did, Minako and Rei ran in so fast they nearly knocked Makoto over. Once the tall brunet regained her balance she turned around to yell at the two of them, but her complaint stopped somewhere in her throat before she could say anything.

Minako and Rei were taking their clothes off as fast as they could. Once they realized Makoto was still there, the two stopped in the middle of undressing like statues, looked up and both turned bright red. Minako said "We wandered around your apartment last night and realized that the bathtub has jacuzzi jets in it. Since we both can't take a bath at the same time, we figured whoever got in here first after you would use up all the hot water. So we decided to race to solve the issue." Ending her story, Minako blushed an even darker red for a moment. Then she heard the water in the tub start running and realized Rei had taken the moment to strip naked and beat her to the tub. "Why you! You cheated!"

Makoto stood there another moment with her eyes wide open looking shocked for a second more. Then she regained her composure and said, "Alright, I'm going to be late as it is for work so I gotta get going. Now that I know more about you and Rei than I ever wanted, I'm leaving. Just remember that anyone who puts so much as a toe in my room is a dead woman, and this time I mean it!"

Minako flashed a salute at Makoto, and said, "Scout's honor!" Without another word, Makoto left.

Minako wrapped a towel around herself and made sure Makoto had truly left, then came back to the bathroom for a moment, looked at Rei, gave a big smile and said, "Of course you know what the first thing I'm going to do is!"

Minako walked into Makoto's bedroom. The first thing Minako noticed was that it was actually smaller than the guest room she had stayed in the night before. Despite how moody Makoto was being toward the two of them last night, she always put her guests first. The room was also pretty plain. Minako guessed Makoto hadn't finished decorating yet. It had a picture of Makoto's parents on the nightstand next to the bed with an alarm clock, a dresser, and a computer on a small desk. Minako laughed at the thought of the 6 foot Makoto hunched over trying to look at the screen. Then Minako decided it was time to try to find out if her hunch was correct. With her goal in mind, she sat down at Makoto's computer.

She flipped on the power and waited patiently for the computer to load. Then she heard a voice from the doorway say, "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Minako looked up at Rei who had a red towel wrapped around herself and was standing in the doorway. "My god, Makoto is going to kill you . . . kill _us_, if she ever finds out about this, you know that? I'm not just talking a quick death, either, Minako. I mean a slow, agonizing one and when we can't stand it anymore it'll be over that balcony of hers for sure, and I won't blame her one bit."

Minako smiled and said, "I need to find something out. I have a hunch about Makoto and Ami, but I need to make sure I'm right before I actually do it. Otherwise, it could be a little . . . embarrassing if I'm wrong. But if I'm right, Makoto might just thank me!"

With her curiosity growing larger than her common sense, Rei finally walked in and looked over Minako's shoulder. "OK, I give up. What are we looking for?"

"Evidence that will help the soldier of love," answered Minako, trying to sound cryptic and failing horribly at it.

The computer had finished loading now. The first thing Minako and Rei saw was that the wallpaper for Makoto's desktop was a picture of Ami from the last time their little group had gone to the beach. It was simple and innocent enough, just a harmless snapshot of Ami, wearing a simple, one piece, blue swim suit playing volleyball. Not enough to prove what she wanted to know, but it still brought a smile to Minako's face since it made her think she was on the right track. Minako opened a folder on the desktop labeled pictures.

Minako started laughing as if she had gone insane, saying, "I was right! I was right! I was right!" over and over. At first Rei didn't quite get it. It was just a folder with jpeg images that Makoto had taken of her friends. Then Rei looked closer at the thumbnail images and realized that there were a surprising amount of pictures of Ami compared to the rest. One was titled Ami looking cute, and was a picture of Ami, with her face smashed in a book and her glasses half on apparently after falling asleep while reading. Another, Gorgeous Ami as this one was titled, was another picture of Ami at the beach. This one was a little more provocative than the desktop wallpaper. Ami was sunbathing in it, apparently right after getting out of the water. The simple bathing suit was now wet, skintight, and suddenly looked far more provocative than its owner probably intended since it left little to the imagination as it clung to Ami's body. The blue haired woman probably had no idea she was being photographed since her eyes were closed. Her still-damp short hair looked a little longer and surprisingly sexy in a slightly tussled way. The rest of the pictures of anyone else were just the generic file numbers the camera put on the pictures when they were loaded onto the computer. Anything, however, with Ami in it was labeled with some kind of name.

Rei looked at Minako with wide eyes as she realized where Minako was going with her little spy trip. "Are you serious?" was all Rei could find to say. She also made a mental note to put a password lock on her computer when she got home just in case.

* * *

"Boys and girls, ladies and germs, you're listening to Minako in the Morning on WKLTX 103.5, and this is Minako Aino broadcasting to you live from the Tokyo Speed Way for the Tokyo Speed Way 500! I'm pleased to announce to the whole of Tokyo that one of my biggest dreams is about to come true! At the end of the race I get to wave the checkered flag! Only 224 more laps to go!"

Minako continued speaking excitedly over the radio Hotaru was holding. She was using it as a way to help her monitor the race while she, Michiru, Setsuna, Rei, and Usagi watched from the stands.

"I don't understand why Minako is so excited about waving a flag," Hotaru said, sounding unimpressed. "Me and Michiru Mama got to do it several times last year. There isn't much exciting about it really. She's mentioned it every time they come back from a commercial break or music."

Rei piped up with her reason. "It's because Minako-chan is a glory hog."

"You're so mean, Rei. Don't listen to her, Hotaru. To us who haven't done it, it's just one of those things that is neat to say you got to do. Plus they usually pick beautiful women to do it so . . . " Usagi was interrupted by Rei.

"It's like I said. She's being a glory hog. And on top of it, she's increasing her already rather large ego," Rei finished while Usagi huffed in response.

Setsuna spoke up next, trying to end the argument between Usagi and Rei before it got into full swing. "It's also good advertising for her radio station. It gets their name out to everyone here at the race track, and to anyone watching the race on TV."

"Just as a reminder to everyone, we are here to support Haruka. She hasn't done as well as she usually does this year mostly due to mechanical problems," Michiru said as she watched Haruka's car struggling to maintain its place in the standings.

The sound of screeching tires brought everyone's attention back to the race just as one of the lead cars slammed into the wall sending parts flying across the track. All eyes in the small group focused on Haruka's car as more and more cars became involved in the crashup. Michiru covered her eyes as her lover, Haruka, came up on the accident at full speed. Setsuna put her hand on Michiru's shoulder to try to let her know Haruka would be OK. "I can never watch this part," said Michiru, her voice muffled from behind her hands.

Haruka's car flew through the assortment of parts, between and around the other cars, passing through smoke so thick at one point that no one could see her car. Then she emerged from the other side, finally able to slow her car down to a more manageable speed.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief as Usagi yelled out excitedly, "Yeah! Go Haruka!"

Setsuna spoke to Michiru reassuringly, "You can uncover your-"

Setsuna was interrupted by a loud banging sound. Everyone looked down at the track again to see Haruka's Toyota Camry suddenly start pouring out smoke from the engine and slow to a crawl as parts actually started coming off her car, making a small trail behind it. Then, as the car worked its way to the side of the track to get out of the way, they watched as car after car passed Haruka's. They could also see the driver of car 21 banging her helmeted head against the steering wheel in frustration as her car came to a complete stop.

* * *

Ami waited patiently on a bench outside the hospital. She had been released earlier that morning and had decided to take the extra time between then and whenever this Haruka person showed up to pick her up, to quietly think about the previous night's events.

"So there are a few differences," she said to herself quietly. "I don't think it will affect things though." Someone beeped a car horn. Ami looked up and saw a yellow sports car. Not recognizing the sandy blond haired man behind the wheel, she went back to her thinking. "The names are the strangest part so far," the blue haired woman said, continuing on with her train of thought. "Different names was not something I anticipated."

Ami heard the car horn again as its occupant rolled down the window. Then she heard the man shout out, "Hey Ami, It's me! Get in already!"

This time when she looked up she blinked then said not realizing how stupid it must sound to the person she was addressing until after she said it, "Haruka?"

Haruka flashed Ami an award winning smile. "The one and only. You still wanted a ride home or were you planning on sitting there all day?"

With that, Ami got in the car. Once they pulled away and were driving, Ami got a better look at this Haruka. Realizing once again only after she said it how stupid it must have sounded to the person she was with, Ami blurted out, "You're . . . a woman?"

Haruka looked at Ami, somewhat surprised. "The others warned me you would be a little confused so I'm going to play nice and not even tease you since it would be too easy and unfair at the moment." She also reminded herself that Michiru would have her sleeping on the couch for the next week if she did. "I dress like a guy, and have what would be considered masculine hobbies and tastes. Yes, I'm a woman. Have been since I was born, and since you met me, remember?" Ami decided being quiet and staring out the window was the best course of action at this point.

Haruka was trying to figure out what was different about Ami. Then she noticed. "I thought you wore glasses. Did they get you contacts while you were there or something?"

Ami looked at Haruka with a lost expression on her face for a split second saying "I don't . . ." Then she answered almost too quickly, "I mean yes! I thought it might be nice to try contacts and get rid of my glasses."

After a moment of silence as Haruka thought about the fact that she felt Ami actually looked better with glasses, she asked, "So how are you feeling?" as she weaved in and out of traffic much faster than Ami was apparently comfortable with.

As Ami gripped her seat with both hands, she said, "Oh, I'm fine. They just say I'll be a little out of it on a few things now and then for a day or so. Should be back to my old self in no time."

"I don't suppose you watched the race?" asked Haruka, swerving to pass yet another car. Seeing Ami shake her head no, Haruka started explaining how the race had gone to her passenger.

As Haruka relayed the embarrassing story to Ami about how she had placed 35th out of 40, Ami listened only half-heartedly. She was looking out the window and was trying to memorize as much of the town as she could on the way to her apartment. Quiet enough for Haruka not to hear, Ami said in astonishment to herself, "It seems the entire city is laid out backwards."


	3. Chapter 3: Makoto to the Rescue

**Double Jeopardy **

**Chapter 3: Makoto to the Rescue **

Rei's voice replied to Minako over the phone, "It's not that I don't think it's a good idea, Minako. It's just that Ami has been acting strange for nearly three days now. She's been getting our names mixed up, she gets lost in a town she's lived in her entire life, she called into work sick, and now you tell me she went out from early yesterday evening to early this morning, and won't tell you where she went. I just don't think Ami is in her right mind at the moment, which makes it kinda wrong to try to set her up right now."

Minako sighed. "Look, Rei, it's not like I'm trying to trick them to sleep together. All I want is to have you come over here and we will have Ami go over to Makoto's for the night to kinda get a break from each other and mix things up a bit. It's not like this is their first time alone together either. Just the first time since we have known how they feel. Besides, Ami really is getting on my nerves since she came back from the hospital. I'm really OK with her being someone else's problem for one night."

Then Minako said, sounding more urgent, "Plus, on top of that, she has that date on Saturday night! We have to move quickly to get the box rolling by then, or she won't wind up with Makoto! Desperate times call for urgent sprints!"

Now, it was Rei's turn to sigh, and the blonde also got the feeling that the miko also rolled her eyes. "Fine Minako-chan, you win. I'll have Makoto drop me off for the evening in a little bit. Just keep our wandering, blue haired friend from running off until I get there. I think Makoto would like having Ami around instead of me for a while, anyway."

Then, more quietly, so as to make sure if Makoto was listening in on the conversation outside the room she couldn't hear, Rei added, "I think Makoto knows at least one of us was snooping on her computer and I don't want to be here if she decides to beat it out of me who that was. See you in a bit, Minako-Chan!" With that, Rei hung up the phone.

As soon as Minako hung up the phone, she heard a knock on her door. "Come in".

Ami walked in and said, "Minako, I have an idea. I know you must be sick of me by now. How about I let Rei borrow my room for the night and I trade places with her and stay with Makoto. It will be kind of a break while I sort things out, plus give us both some time to get away from each other."

"You weren't listening in to my conversation with Rei, were you, Ami?" That was something else Minako had noticed Ami had been doing. Ami had started picking up phones in other parts of the apartment to try to listen in to Minako's conversations with other people. Even one to the local pizza delivery restaurant for lunch. This was exactly the reason that had caused her to want to kick Ami out for a while.

Ami looked at Minako innocently, and said, "No, but I did catch part of it through the door. You're kinda loud."

Minako was sure Ami hadn't heard all of the conversation because there would have definitely been more questions, so she wasn't too worried. Instead, she said, sounding relieved, "Yeah, Ami-chan! I think that would be a great idea. As a matter of fact, if you go and look in your closet, there is a nice suitcase packed with three days' worth of stuff for you. Makoto should be by with Rei in a moment, so we are all set and everyone is happy." As Ami left to get her things, Minako was glad she had planned on locking Ami out in advance even if this wasn't completely how she wanted to go about it.

A short time later, Rei entered Minako's room. Minako looked up from her seat at her desk and said, "Please tell me she's gone."

Rei looked at Minako and said, smiling, "Yep. Operation Thunder Snow is underway! Now are you ready to go raid Ami's computer?"

Minako looked at Rei and smiled. "I already did last night while she was out, and you won't believe some of the stuff she's got on there!"

* * *

Makoto didn't know anyone had cracked into her computer. The reason she was so frustrated around Rei hadn't been that at all. The Senshi of electricity hadn't heard from her online girlfriend since Friday evening, and it was now Monday evening. Nearly three days. It wasn't like PB to drop off the face of the earth like that without a word. On top of that, there was the way she had been hearing about Ami's behavior since her incident. Her friends were starting to wonder if the Senshi of ice hadn't sustained some form of brain damage.

She watched as the short, blue-haired woman wandered around her apartment. Ami looked at Makoto and said, sounding truly sincere, "This place is really nice, Makoto. I can't wait to see when you're done decorating. It'll be beautiful."

Makoto smiled to hide the fact that she was becoming extremely worried about Ami. The others had said she was acting strange lately, but Ami really should already have known how her apartment looked since she was the person who had gone with Makoto when she went apartment shopping, and who had helped her move in. Not wanting to embarrass Ami, Makoto said simply, "Thank you."

Makoto then said, "Ami, I know you just got here, but I need to go out to the store for a few and pick up some ingredients to make us some dinner. It's been a while since you had a good, decent, cooked meal. Just stay here and I'll be right back. Feel free to have a look around if you like. The supermarket across the street tends to have everything I usually need, so you shouldn't have to wait long."

After apologizing again, Makoto left Ami alone in the apartment.

Once the door closed, Ami said angrily, as she whipped out her communicator, "About damn time they left me alone for 10 minutes." She ran a hand through her hair gently for a moment in thought, then winced in pain when her fingers came in contact with the large bruise on her head. She had felt it was necessary to make it look like she had been attacked, so she had had her lover knock her over the head. She knew it would hurt, but she didn't expect the woman to hit her so hard it would give her a concussion. She would either have to be more specific next time, or avoid using such a strategy with her again.

"Serena, this is Amy reporting in."

Usagi's face appeared on the communicator screen. Only it wasn't Usagi. Serena said simply, "Report your progress."

'Ami' replied to the image quietly, "I'm currently in Makoto's apartment. I'm going to gather information about her tonight, then I'll meet up with all of you outside of her apartment to give a full report and to finish my interrogation of Ami. Then we should have adequate information to kill all of the Sekkou of this dimension. So far, our plan is going perfectly."

"Good work, Amy. I look forward to seeing you soon." Then, losing some of her formal tone, Serena said, "Please be careful."

With that, Amy nodded, closed down her communicator, and went about her search of the apartment.

Makoto opened the door to her apartment about an hour after that. "Ami-Chan, I'm back! Sorry it took so long!" said Makoto. When she realized Ami wasn't going to answer, Makoto went to the kitchen to put up her groceries. Once she opened the kitchen door, she found out why Ami hadn't answered.

'Ami' was at the table stacking empty beer cans into a pyramid. Makoto kept a case of beer for when she and Haruka got together to watch sporting events on TV. While she did drink a few now and then, she had never gotten drunk. And she never imagined any of her other friends would be interested in the stuff any, especially not enough to get drunk. _Especially_ not Ami.

Amy placed the last one on top, then looked at Makoto. When she finally spoke, her speech was slurred a bit. "Oh! Lit . . . Makoto-chan! Hi! I got a little thirsty, so I decided to try some of your . . ." Amy picked up the top can to look at it again to try to remember what she was going to say " . . . some of this stuff. We don't drink alcohol where I come from, so I had to try it out of curiosity, you see . . ." Then Amy stood up and started staggering toward Makoto, saying, "I must say it has an interesting effect on me."

Makoto walked over to Amy and held her so she wouldn't fall. Still unaware of the impostor, Makoto said, sounding almost as if she still didn't believe it, "Ami . . . ? Are you . . . uh . . . drunk?"

The usually intelligent woman looked at the beer cans arranged on the table for a moment with a rather stupid looking gaze, trying to choose her words. Then she leaned back in Makoto's arms and said, "Yep," emphasizing the P in yep with an exaggerated popping sound. "Never been drunk before . . . " Amy wrapped some of Makoto's hair around one of her fingers then looked up as sweetly into the taller woman's green eyes as being drunk would allow and said, "It's . . . interesting . . . I . . . feel less . . . inhibited? Is that even a word?" Then Amy leaned up, pulling Makoto's head down a bit, pressing their foreheads together. "Kiss me, Makoto." When Makoto didn't, she smiled and said with a surprisingly seductive tone to her voice, "Come on, Mako. It'll be fun."

Makoto pushed Amy back, startled by her sexual advancement. Makoto had fantasized about Ami throwing herself at her before, but having her do it while she was recovering from a concussion and stark raving drunk with the strong smell of alcohol on her breath was disgusting as well as wrong to her. She would never take advantage of Ami in such a state. If she ever wanted her, Makoto much preferred the thought of Ami taking her with all her faculties working properly. Doing so right now was just wrong in Makoto's book.

Amy staggered backward, but amazingly kept her balance. Looking a little hurt, she said, "Don't be like that Makoto . . . I know you want me." Before Amy could throw herself at Makoto again, her communicator started beeping. The far past tipsy woman pulled out her communicator and said, rather out of character and a little angry, "Wadda ya want? Can't this wait? I'm in the middle of . . . somethin'."

Makoto heard Usagi's voice over the communicator say, "You're supposed to meet us out here, remember? What's with you tonight?"

Amy responded to whom Makoto thought was Usagi, saying, "Be there in a sec," then closed her communicator and looked at Makoto sadly. "Looks like I got to go . . . see ya around, Makoto." Amy staggered out the door without so much as an apology or a look back at Makoto.

Makoto quietly took a seat at the kitchen table, trying to clear her head. Her friends had told her that Ami was acting strange lately, but she doubted any of them would have thought she would have drunk . . . nine beers and not realized she would have gotten drunk doing it. Something was definitely amiss about the short, blue-haired woman and it was time to find out. After taking a few more moments to gain her senses, Makoto walked out of the apartment to find Ami.

Once Amy arrived, the group that had assembled to meet up with her looked at her with a mixture of astonishment and disgust. Amy stumbled toward them, and as soon as she could, she wrapped her arms around the woman who looked exactly like Makoto and asked, "Would it count as cheating if I kissed someone who was your identical twin from a parallel dimension?"

Lita looked at Amy and said, sounding revolted, "You want my personal opinion?"

Amy responded by taking a step back, bending over, putting her hands on her knees, and throwing up all over the sidewalk, barely missing Lita's feet.

The four looked at Amy for a moment. She had started to hiccup as she finally lost her balance, landing on the ground with a thud. Then Ray broke the silence. "We need to get back."

Makoto watched from her hiding place near the door of the apartment building, as the group helped the drunk woman to her feet and practically dragged her off. She had originally come down to walk Ami home or insist she come back upstairs, but when she saw Ami talking to someone who looked amazingly like herself, she realized something was seriously wrong.

Makoto flipped on her communicator, set it to contact all the senshi, and spoke when someone's face appeared on the screen. Noticing none of the people in front of her had turned on their communicators made Makoto even more suspicious. She was in such a hurry, she almost didn't notice that Minako was the one on the screen. "Listen, I think Ami is in very real danger. I'm following a group of people right now. I'll contact all of you as soon as I find out where they are heading. Meet me there." Before anyone could reply, Makoto clicked off her communicator and started following the five people, keeping her distance so as not to be noticed.

* * *

It had been a long walk to her target's destination, which it turned out was an old abandoned automobile factory. The place hadn't put out a single product since the mid 1980s. It was almost completely enclosed, with no windows save a small area for offices on the front of the building. A perfect place to hide away from the world. There had been a few times on the way that Makoto thought she was seen by the group of women she was following, but since they made no attempts to lose or attack her, Makoto assumed they hadn't. She had already called the other Senshi and told them to meet her here. Also, to a chorus of disagreements over her communicator, Makoto informed them she was going to take a look around and see what was going on so she could tell them once they got here.

Makoto sneaked around back of the old building to find another way in. "Finally!" Makoto whispered to herself as she found a small back door. Of course, as she tried the knob, it was locked. Luckily, women are always prepared for such situations. She pulled a hair clip out of her hair, broke it in half and used the broken clip as a lock pick. Once she got the lock open, but before opening the door, she transformed into Sailor Jupiter, then walked in as quietly as she could.

It was very dark inside, causing Makoto to have to wait several minutes for her eyes to adjust. Once they did, she realized she was in a huge room. Probably the manufacturing floor. Most of the equipment was long gone. Just a few discarded tools here and there, one or two large pieces of machinery, and chains hanging from a few old cranes were all that was left behind. In the center of the room, one of the chains appeared to have something hanging from the hook at the end. Even though it was too dark to tell for certain, Makoto was pretty sure what it was.

The tall senshi walked quietly across the floor. Once she got closer, she could tell, even in the darkness, that she was right about what the object was on the hook. Ami had her wrists tied together, with rope attached to the hook. Her feet were hanging off the ground, and she had on a black blindfold. Her captors had at least had the decency to wrap her in a discarded white cloth, probably thrown over a piece of equipment when the facility had closed. Once Makoto got to Ami, she reached up and started untying Ami's hands.

Makoto whispered to herself quietly, trying to boost her confidence a little, "Time to play hero!"

Ami, who had either been unconscious or asleep when Makoto had gotten to her, suddenly began struggling when she felt Makoto's hands touch hers. "Who's there?" she asked, sounding weak and more than a little scared.

Makoto stopped trying to untie her and gently put her hands on Ami's face, speaking quietly but also calmly and reassuringly, "It's me, Makoto. I'm getting you out of here. Now stop struggling so I can untie you."

Ami tried to speak, but coughed a bit for a moment before saying "No, Makoto . . . not by yourself," just as Makoto got Ami's hands untied, causing Ami to groan as she fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Makoto knelt down by Ami and whispered as she tried to help Ami to her feet, "Can you move your legs?"

Ami smiled quietly for a moment, then said sounding somewhat delirious, "Are you asking me to dance?" Then Ami slumped in Makoto's arms as she passed out again.

"Guess I'll carry you. Time to go, Ami." As Makoto lifted Ami and started heading for the door, she couldn't help but think to herself how easy it had been to get in and actually get Ami. It was starting to look like she was going to get away scot-free after pulling the wool over the eyes of whoever had caught her long-time friend. Makoto almost regretted that, since she wanted to hurt the people who had done this to her. A good fight might have yielded answers and helped her to blow off steam. Little did Makoto know, she was about to learn an important lesson: be careful what you wish for.

Just as Makoto had taken a few steps, she heard her own voice from out of the darkness say angrily, "Forget it! You're not going anywhere!" The next thing Makoto felt was a sharp pain at the base of her skull. Dropping Ami, Makoto twirled around to defend herself. Then she felt the room keep spinning when she stopped and suddenly saw the ground rush up to meet her.

When Makoto came to, she winced as she opened her eyes. A light was turned on overhead, causing only the immediate area of the huge room to be visible. The light seemed so bright for a moment that Makoto felt like someone was jamming a knife in her eyes. Once her eyes stopped hurting, she could see Ami in front of her, lying on the ground, tied up again. This time, Ami's legs were tied together and her arms were tied behind her back. She still had the blindfold on. Next to Ami was a rectangular-shaped water cooler with ice water in it. When Makoto had gained most of her senses back, she tried to move, only to notice her hands were tied to a chair and her feet were tied together. Walking out of the darkness as if they were ghosts in the night and forming a circle around them were all five inner planetary sailor senshi, including Sailors Jupiter and Mercury. The only visible difference Makoto could see of the five of her captors was that where their uniforms should be white, they were black. Also, instead of gold tiaras, theirs were titanium silver in color. Despite their identical appearances, Makoto knew instantly that with the exception of poor Ami, she wasn't in the company of friends.

She realized she must have been out for a while, because the one that had obviously at this point impersonated Ami appeared to have sobered up a bit. Dark Sailor Mercury was the first to break the silence. "Your friend here is tough to crack. It took us quite a while to get any information out of her." Dark Mercury emphasized the point by giving Ami a hard kick to her gut. Ami squirmed on the ground, making a croaking sound as she gasped for breath. Dark Mercury looked back at Makoto and said, "She wouldn't answer most of our questions. All we were able to get out of her were your names. You should be proud of her. She stood up to my interrogation methods quite well. Impressive really."

Looking down at Ami and then back up at Dark Mercury, Makoto said angrily, "You tortured her? When I get out of this chair I'm going to kill you!"

Dark Sailor Jupiter spoke up next. "Now, now. Such violence really isn't necessary. Besides, tortured is such a strong word. I prefer alternative forms of persuasion myself. Don't worry. We won't waste our time trying them on you." Pointing at herself, Dark Sailor Jupiter said, "I already know they won't work."

With that, Dark Mars threw in, sounding perfectly calm, 'That's right. So, we came up with a different plan."

"We're going to use 'alternative forms of persuasion' on your little pal and make you watch. Since she won't talk, we figure hurting her in front of you is the best way to get you to speak." The comment came from Dark Venus.

Finally, Dark Sailor Moon stepped in front of Makoto. Looking down at her almost sadly, she said, "We have many questions to ask you. Unfortunately we probably don't have time to ask them all since you most likely told your friends where we are. So I will make a deal with you. There is one very important question we want answered at the moment. If you answer it for us, we will let you and Ami go without any trouble." Looking into Makoto's angry green eyes, Dark Moon asked as politely as she could, almost begging Makoto to answer, "How many Sailor Scouts are you aware of on your earth?"

Hearing such things from people who looked so much like her closest friends caused Makoto to be shocked for a moment. But only a moment. Makoto looked up with an angry smile at Dark Moon and spoke quietly, but with as much venom as she could put into her words. "Go spit!"

Sailor Moon looked genuinely disappointed. "I'm sorry you feel that way," she said as she stepped back into the shadows, disappearing like a ghost, "but you leave us no choice." With those words, Dark Mars and Dark Venus lifted Ami to her knees. Ami, who was still obviously in pain from the kick she received from her double, was now facing the water cooler.

Lita knelt down beside Makoto and whispered into her ear as she grabbed Makoto's jaw with her hand, forcing her to look forward, "You _will _watch this while you think about answering our princess's question."

As Makoto was forced to watch, Dark Mercury grabbed Ami's hair. Ami, being unable to see due to her blindfold, didn't take a breath because she couldn't know what was about to happen as her head was suddenly forced underwater. For a moment, Ami, probably trying to be brave or out of shock, didn't move. Then she began to visibly squirm a little, then more and more until she was thrashing about in pure panic. The two holding her down were putting all their weight on Ami's shoulders to hold her under.

Makoto screamed out at the demonic versions of her friends in both anger at them and fear for her friend. "Leave her alone!" Just then, the two holding Ami raised her head out of the water, letting her gasp for air.

Dark Mercury looked up at Makoto and said quietly, "It's a simple question. There isn't any need for you to prolong her suffering. Just answer it. How many Sailor Sekkou . . . I mean Senshi . . . are there defending your planet?"

As Dark Mercury spoke, Makoto heard a sound that surprised her. Ami had caught her breath and started laughing. As Dark Mercury finished speaking, she spun around to face Ami. "You find something amusing?"

Ami answered, sounding almost entertained. "Don't answer them, Makoto. If this is the best they can come up with, I'll be fine!" Jupiter looked at Ami in shock as Ami said, clearly taunting the Sekkou, "Come on guys! You were being so creative before!" Then Ami laughed hysterically. Sailor Jupiter guessed that it was part of Ami's attempt not to crack under pressure as well as to try to help Makoto not worry about her as much.

Makoto got a cold feeling in her stomach when Dark Mercury looked at the tied and blind folded senshi of water with a psychotic smile. "Do you realize how long you have even been here? You've been in a pitch black room for several days now, with a blindfold on. I wonder how painful it would be if it were suddenly removed while you were forced to look at a really bright light? Might be an interesting experiment."

Ami started to tremble, but not from the cold water. She tried to pull away, twisting her head side to side, unable to hide the fear in her voice. As she felt Dark Mercury grab her blindfold, she yelled "No, don't!"

Then she felt the blindfold pulled away and squeezed her eyes shut tightly. Makoto could tell that even with her eyes shut, Ami was in some discomfort. Dark Mars and Venus, still holding Ami on her knees, were having a little more trouble holding her in place as she squirmed. Then Dark Mercury put her hand on Ami's face and forced open one of Ami's eyes with her fingers, causing the senshi of water to scream in agony from the pain.

"I can see this is going to take a while," said Dark Mercury to Makoto, as she took her hand away from Ami's face. Ami squeezed her eyes shut, crying and sobbing.

Just as Dark Sailor Venus and Mars started to push Ami's head back under the cold water of the ice bucket, Ami sobbed out to Makoto, "Don't answer them!" And with that Makoto watched Ami's head as it was forced back into the bucket again. Ami started struggling as hard as she could, causing some of the water to spill over the side, but it was obvious her strength was leaving her.

Makoto said to herself loud enough for the dark reflection of herself holding her head to hear, "It's time to do something." Then she shouted out, "Are you guys going to just stand there all night? Now would be a _wonderful_ time!" Makoto jerked her head to the side, suddenly causing Dark Sailor Jupiter to lose her grip on Makoto's jaw. As Dark Jupiter tried to get a grip on Makoto's face again, Makato clamped down on her hand with her teeth, biting as hard as she could into her evil double's hand.

Almost as if it were planned that way, a fireball slammed into Dark Mars, as a chain seemingly made of light smacked Dark Venus upside the head, forcing them both to let go of Ami long enough for her to wiggle herself out of the water. She fell onto the floor, choking and gasping for breath.

Only a split second later, a disk shaped projectile made of light flew at Dark Mercury's head. Dark Mercury, having the most warning, suspected the attack and managed to dodge Sailor Moon's tiara just in the nick of time.

Dark Mercury, being the only one not hit by the sudden surprise attack, looked out into the dark room with shock and anger, but didn't waste any time or words before beginning the counterattack. She jumped into the air, hovering for a moment, pointed and shouted out, "_**Water Poisoning Surprise**_!" causing a huge sickly green ball of water to form in front of her and fly out in the general direction of where the fire ball had been flung from. The moment her feet hit the ground, she reached down, grabbing a small screw laying on the floor, and tossed it at the light, plunging the room into total darkness, which she knew would temporarily render everyone blind. Once the room was dark, she activated her visor and started scanning the room, hoping to use just a moment to try to find out how many intruders they were dealing with. Once she reached a count of only three she began trying to scan them for information on their power levels.

Dark Venus rose to her feet, and said, sounding surprised and angry, "Hey! That's cheating!" Dark Venus knelt down, gesturing toward one of the few large pieces of heavy machinery left in the building, shouting, "_**Venus Metallic Crush**_!" Suddenly the large machine which was bolted to the floor was surrounded by light for a moment, then went straight up, bringing some of the floor with it, and flew into the darkness in a line, swerving slightly so as to cover the area of origin for all three attacks, then knocking a huge hole in the wall as it slammed into the far side of the building.

Dark Mars had also apparently regained her footing. "Time to put a little light back on the subject, I think." Then she shouted out her attack, "**Fire From Hell Ignite**!" Mars spun in a circle and pointed at a random area of the floor in the direction the Love Me Chain had come from. The floor where she pointed was suddenly a 10 foot diameter cylinder of fire from floor to ceiling, setting the roof on fire and causing an orange glow to light the room. Now the Dark Sekkou and Sailor Senshi could see each other all face to face like one big, unhappy, dysfunctional family.

Dark Jupiter growled at Makoto as she jerked her hand out of Sailor Jupiter's mouth, then punched her, sending Makoto and the chair she was tied into slamming down onto its side. Then she looked out across the now partially lit room, choosing a target. Settling on Sailor Moon, Dark Jupiter stomped both feet on the ground and slowly raised her hands as if lifting something heavy. Two large balls of electricity formed in her hands and she screamed "_**Electric Shock Therapy**_!" Then she sent the two balls of electricity smashing into Sailor moon, sending her flying.

As Usagi slid to a halt much farther from where she had been standing, she said, rubbing her head, "They don't waste any time do they?"

Sailor Moon got to her feet just in time to hear Rei yell out, "Sailor Moon! _Run_!"

The blond looked down and saw the ground starting to turn red. She decided now was a very good time to start taking Rei's advice and ran as fast as she could, just in time to feel the heat of the fire as Dark Mars' attack flew from the ground. Then Usagi saw another large green ball of water slam on the ground right in front of her so hard it cracked the cement. The water also made the concrete that didn't break slick, causing her to slip and fall on her rear. Before Usagi could whine about the indignity of it all, the large piece of machinery that had flown through the air earlier came smashing back through the wall, forming another hole. Then it stopped for a moment in midair, as if searching out its target, and started sailing in the direction of Usagi.

Usagi was able to get to her feet surprisingly fast for a klutz and started running as fast as she could, dodging multiple walls of fire, a huge flying piece of machinery, balls of toxic water, and spheres of electricity by mere inches, screaming at the top of her lungs while flailing her arms.

While Usagi had the Dark Sekkou occupied, and Rei shouted out to Usagi when and were to run to, Minako had sneaked to where Makoto was and started untying her. Makoto said quietly to Minako, "Great plan using Usagi as a diversion. Ami will be proud!"

Minako answered "Eh . . . it's not exactly how we planned it, but never slap a gift cow on the back right?" Once Makoto was untied, she ran toward Ami while Minako started to sneak up behind Dark Mars, who was too busy trying to fry Usagi to notice her. Ami was still clenching her eyes closed as tight as she could, groaning in pain, once Makoto reached her. She put Ami's blindfold back on, and started untying her.

Once Makoto had Ami's feet and arms free, Ami asked as she was helped to her feet, "I don't really know what's going on, but did you plan all this?"

Sailor Jupiter said, a little embarrassed, "Not really . . . it was kinda a rush job."

Ami coughed again, then weakly said, "Well, you're still my hero." She leaned on the other Senshi as she walked, trying to keep her balance.  


Just then, Makoto felt someone slam into her, knocking her and Ami to the ground. Sailor Jupiter looked up to see Ami was once again knocked unconscious after sliding a few feet away. Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus were fighting Dark Mercury, and Sailor Mars was keeping both Dark Venus and Dark Mars occupied. Enraged, Dark Sailor Jupiter loomed over her. Makoto had just enough time to wonder where Dark Sailor Moon was when she had to roll to avoid being stomped on by Dark Jupiter.

By the time Makoto got to her feet, her adversary had picked up Ami. When Sailor Jupiter started toward her, Dark Jupiter shouted out loud enough for everyone to hear, "One more step and I break her neck!" Once everyone realized what had happened, the fighting stopped. Dark Venus ordered Makoto, Rei, Minako, and Usagi to stand together in a nearby corner as Lita displayed their hostage proudly, almost as if she were a trophy.

Dark Venus said coldly, "Now, we're all going to just wait here for Dark Sailor Moon to return, and once she does, you're all coming back with us. If anyone so much as moves, as my esteemed colleague said, Mizuno-san here dies right before your eyes." Then, to her fellow Dark Sekkou she asked, "Where in the hell did she go anyway?"

"Right here."

All eyes turned upward to look on a high cat walk away from the part of the roof that was burning. Dark Sailor Moon was just standing there. But she wasn't the person who spoke. That would be the shorter girl wearing a purple Sailor Senshi outfit, with the sharp part of a glaive pressed against Dark Moon's neck.** "**The four of you are big on giving out threats and hurting people. Let's see how well you respond to them."

Mina shouted toward the voice, "Who the hell are you?"

The small girl's reply was strangely calm. "No concern of yours, if you cooperate."

Amy had seen the young girl before. From down below, Dark Mercury yelled up with mock friendliness in her voice, "Why, if it isn't sweet little Hotaru." Then, clearly to anger her, Amy snapped out, "Does this mean the rest of your sick pathetic family are sailor soldiers, by any chance?"

Hotaru looked down angrily at Amy, but said calmly, "No. And no more talking. They go free, or your princess dies."

"You don't have the stomach for it, little girl. Now be a good kid and put down the sharp object before you hurt yourself!" was Mina's reply to Hotaru.

Hotaru looked down at them for another second, then changed position so that she was standing behind Serena. She touched the blade of the glaive to the back of Dark Moon's neck again, swung the the blade back then forward. Before it could slice into her neck, Ray shouted out, "All right, shorty. You win."

It was only with lots of experience that Hotaru was able to stop the swing before cutting off Serena's head. When Hotaru looked down, Dark Jupiter had put Ami down and backed away from her several feet. A large portal opened behind them, and Lita shouted, "Now, let her go."

Serena looked over her shoulder at Hotaru, saying, "You should kill me while you still have the chance."

"Perhaps. Go. Before I change my mind," was Hotaru's reply.

With that, a small portal opened up in front of Serena and she walked through it at the same time her companions did theirs. Just before the portal disappeared, Serena's voice called back to them. "We will be back."


	4. Chapter 4: Darkness of the Mind

**Double Jeopardy **

**Chapter 4: The Darkness of the Mind and Things Not Well Hidden**

Ami could feel herself waking up. Everything hurt. She felt like she had survived being hit by a Mack truck. Then her brain started to catch up with her and she started to remember everything she had gone through over the last few days. The senshi of ice realized that an eighteen-wheeler was close enough to the truth. Finally she opened her eyes to see where she was.

The room was dark, but not so dark she couldn't see. There was a very soft blue light on overhead. Ami mused that it was probably to keep her eyes from hurting. She figured the light would probably very slowly get brighter to help her eyes adjust to light, since this was a typical treatment for people who were deprived of light for a long amount of time. She noticed an IV inserted into a vein in her wrist. The room was your typical hospital room, complete with another one of those low TVs Makoto hated. As she continued to observe her surroundings, she noticed she wasn't alone.

Makoto was holding her hand, but apparently had fallen asleep that way. She was sitting in a chair, but had slumped over a bit and was leaning on the side of the bed. Ami couldn't help but be concerned for the fact that Makoto's neck was going to be sore when she woke up with her head tilted so awkwardly. Even though it hurt for her to move, Ami reached over with the hand Makoto wasn't holding, and gently stroked her green eyed friend's cheek.

Makoto woke, so startled that she jumped up out of the seat saying, "Who! What! When! Where!" as she rose. Just after getting the last word out, she banged her head on the low TV, yelping in pain. She rubbed the top of her head and her neck for a moment. Then she looked down at Ami, still in bed, and, gritting her teeth a little at the pain, still managed an embarrassed smile on her friend's behalf.

Ami looked up at her with a weak smile and answered Makoto's rhetorical questions in order. "Its just me, I'm sorry for waking you up. I can't tell if it's ante meridian or post meridian since we seem to be in a room without windows, but the clock on the wall says 5:30, and I think we are in Azabu Regional Medical Center." Then it was Ami's turn to feel less intelligent as she said shyly, "You wouldn't happen to know what day it is, would you?"

Since she just woke up, and from the splitting headache she now had, Makoto had to take a moment to answer. "Tuesday morning, I think."

Ami looked down at her hands, glancing at the small hospital bracelet on her wrist for a few seconds, deep in thought. Then she said, "It was only three days? It felt much longer than that." She closed her eyes as memories of her time as a captive came back to her, surprisingly vivid, and tried not to show her fear. She couldn't keep herself from shaking from some of the more brutal memories as they played in her head though. Unable to keep her voice from quivering, she said quietly, "It was horrible, Makoto."

Makoto placed a hand on the smaller woman's trembling shoulder and asked sympathetically, with no pressure, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ami took a few deep breaths and pulled herself back together. After a few moments she opened her eyes and looked at her friend. "No, not yet. I just want to get on with my life and forget it, at least for now."

"All right, but if you want to talk about it, you can come to me. I won't tell anyone unless you want me to, either." Makoto gave Ami's shoulder a gentle squeeze then added, "We're here for you. Don't forget that."

"Thanks Mako-chan. I will when I'm ready, I promise." Then, sounding exhausted, Ami said, "For now, I think I'm going to go back to sleep though."

Makoto looked thoughtfully at Ami then said, "As you wish, Ami-chan." Then Makoto put a backpack on a small side table that could be pulled up to the bed and pushed it near Ami. "Minako went back to your place and packed a few things in here to help keep you entertained while you're stuck here. I'm going to go find your mom and let her know you're awake. She wants to make sure you're all right." Then Makoto added reassuringly, "I'll be back in a few minutes. The others left earlier this morning so I promised Id let them know when you came to."

Again, Ami thanked Makoto and watched her leave, right up until she realized Makoto was going to open the door. She pulled a pillow in front of her head to cover her eyes and waited to hear the door close. Then, instead of going to sleep, Ami started rummaging through the backpack, hoping Minako had the good sense to put her cell phone in there.

"Just a quick text message. Pie Lover deserves that much, at least," Ami said to herself quietly.

Makoto was in a crowded elevator just a few moments later, when her cell phone started vibrating. She opened it and realized it was a text message. As soon as she saw who it was from, she said out loud excitedly, "PBJ!" and ignored the looks of surprise and confusion from the other occupants of the elevator as she excitedly typed a greeting. She was so happy to hear from her secret girlfriend that she didn't even stop to think why the other woman would be up this early.

_PBJ1978 has signed on at 5:40AM_

PBJ1978: I'm not sure if you're there or not... but I figured I'd let you know I'm good. Just wound up with some computer problems. I apologize for not contacting you sooner. I've missed you.

CherryPieLover: That's OK. I figured that, but I was beginning to worry you had met someone else more interesting. I missed you too!

PBJ1978: No! No! The only person in my life who would really give you a run for your money isn't interested in other women. So you have nothing to worry about.

Makoto smiled at that comment as she walked out the elevator.

CherryPieLover: Her loss. Straight or not, she'd be a fool to turn down someone as sweet as you :D

PBJ1978: Yeah I guess . . . well, I need to get some rest. I'll talk to you again later.

CherryPieLover: OK. Just give me a buzz when you're ready to chat again!

_PBJ1978 has signed off at 5:45AM_

Makoto sighed quietly as she put her cell phone back in her pocket. "I can't wait to finally see her in person."

Dr. Hana Mizuno had shown her where her office was the night before, and Makoto now found herself at the door. She knocked quietly, then opened the door once Ami's mom told her to come in.

The room was another small interior room with no windows. Dr. Mizuno's office had a professional and plain appearance to it. There was a desk with a picture of Ami and her mother from Ami's graduation from college, as well as Dr. Mizuno's nameplate and a flat screen monitor off to the side of it situated so Dr. Mizuno could see the door. A chair in front of the desk for whomever wished to speak with her, a few filing cabinets, and a few medical charts and posters on the walls rounded out the remaining items. The room was a little dark since one of the florescent lights had burned out. Combined with the eerie electrical buzz from the working florescent light, the lower lighting gave the white room a creepy feel.

"Ah, Kino," Hana said quietly, almost as if talking to a patient as she gestured to a chair in the small office opposite her desk. "Lock the door, please. I have some things I'd like to discuss with you. It won't take long. Please take a seat."

Makoto was a little puzzled as to why she was being asked to lock the door, but she did so and sat in the recommended seat. It always surprised Makoto how similar Dr. Mizuno was to Ami. The major differences were that her hair looked like it was a lighter blue due to her hair starting to turn gray, and she was slightly taller. She was wearing a lab coat with a stethoscope around her neck, and a name tag with 'Dr. Mizuno' written on it. Ami's friends had often joked that all Ami would have to do is get ahold of her mother's work clothing and she could probably pass for her mother.

Even while sitting, Makoto still had to look down to make eye contact with her. "Good morning, Dr. Mizuno. I came to tell you Ami is awake."

As Makoto spoke, Hana leaned forward in her chair, put her elbows on the desk, folded her hands together, and lowered her head so that her mouth was covered by her hands. Then Hana looked over her glasses into Makoto's eyes as if searching her very soul. Makoto couldn't help but think to herself that Ami always looked over her glasses at someone when she was irritated, angry, or surprised by the person. Obviously this was where her friend had gotten the habit. Whatever Hana Mizuno wanted to discuss, it probably wasn't something Makoto wanted to talk about.

As Makoto shifted in her seat, feeling suddenly even more uncomfortable under Dr. Mizuno's gaze, Hana spoke, not moving other than to blink her eyes. "I'll be sure to visit her shortly. Since we are both busy people, Miss Kino, I will get straight to the point. Recent events have forced me to face an unfortunate truth about my daughter's life." Narrowing her eyes she said simply, "I know your secret."

The taller woman tilted her head to to the side a little. She doubted Hana knew Makoto's true feelings for Ami, or about her online relationship. Even if she knew about that, Hana never struck her as homophobic. That left only one other secret in her life and there was no way in hell that Ami's mother knew about that, could she? "Excuse me, Doctor, I don't mean to be rude, but any secrets I may have, or that you think I have, are none of your concern."

The second the last word left Makoto's mouth, Hana slammed her hands down on the desk so hard that the picture fell over and her name plate slid off the desk clattering as it hit the floor. She stood up and arched her back so her eyes were now level with the younger woman's. The anger flashing in her eyes was intense, and for a moment Makoto thought Dr. Mizuno was going to jump over the desk and strangle her. Instead, shaking with rage, Hana spoke so quietly that Makoto had to strain to hear her. "My daughter, my only child, is 3 floors above us in a hospital room recovering from a severe beating, dehydration, light deprivation, and is being treated for a concussion for the second time in less than a week." Then, leaning forward so her nose was almost touching Makoto's, she said, "I think the secret the nine of you are trying to hide so well and so long has suddenly _very _much become _my_ concern."

Makoto hadn't had her parents to yell at her for nearly 19 years now, but she had a feeling that the cold sensation in her stomach was probably what it felt like to be caught in a lie by one of them. Making one last attempt to throw Hana off, Makoto said angrily, trying to force as much confusion into her voice as she could, and rising to her feet to try to intimidate the smaller woman with her height, "What the hell are you talking about, Hana Mizuno?"

Ami's mother looked up at Makoto for a moment before speaking. "You, my daughter, and your entire group of close-knit friends are the Sailor Senshi that show up in the news from time to time over the last 15 years. You're considered both heroes of Tokyo, and as perhaps the most destructive gang in the history of the city based on how much damage seems to follow in your wake."

The green-eyed woman forced out a laugh, saying, "I'm rather surprised an upstanding doctor would actually believe in a silly urban legend like that. Look, I know you're concerned about your daughter, but you're way off! We told you what --"

Makoto was cut off in mid-sentence when the small woman yelled out, "You all lied to my face!" Then, forcing herself to regain a bit of her normal calm demeanor, Dr. Mizuno started talking again. "I'm sorry, Makoto, you're right. I am concerned about my daughter. I love her dearly and I know a lot about her. Despite how close you and your friends may be to her, I'm even willing to bet I know a few things you don't. I know I'm right, and I know you know it."

Then she sat back down in her chair, slumping her shoulders a bit, looking suddenly old and worn out. "I've known for a long time now. I'm not sure how long she has been involved, but I started to notice patterns in when she was late or didn't show up at home, and when events involving the Sailor Senshi would occur while she was in high school. The first year or so I passed it off as coincidence. Unfortunately, coincidence only accounts for a few events. Not over one hundred."

Taking Makoto's silence as permission to continue, Hana added as she opened a drawer and set a newspaper clipping in front of Makoto, "A few years back, a reporter snapped this picture and attached it to an article. Most people dismissed it as a hoax, but I believe it is clear enough to prove my point." The picture in question was a blurry black and white picture of Makoto, Ami, Usagi, Rei, and Minako transformed into their alter egos. Only Ami's face was clear enough to see, though even it was pretty distorted from motion blur, bad lighting, and water since she was in the middle of an attack.. Not enough for most to place her, except perhaps her mother and closest friends.

Makoto read the article briefly and placed it from events about 5 years ago. A few leftover Yoma from way back when the Senshi had fought Beryl had decided to show up in the middle of a crowded mall to try to avenge their long-dead queen. Their attempts failed horribly, but the incident had made front page news for weeks, re-kindling the debate over whether the Sailor Senshi and their adventures were truth or myth, and whether they were helpful or harmful to the greater good of Tokyo. Also, as Dr. Mizuno had mentioned, the property damage to the Roppongi Hill's shopping center had been costly, to say the least.

The elder blue haired woman sighed, then continued. "Several times she even admitted to me she was at those locations at the same time, but as a bystander. You all had to know you couldn't hide it forever. There were a few times I tried to bring it up with Ami, but she always changed the subject."

When Makoto didn't say anything, she continued, looking suddenly guilty. "It's clear to me now I should have insisted. I know what she was doing was dangerous, but I also knew she believed in it enough to take the risk, and that she would be careful. Now however, one of her adventures has finally landed her in the hospital." Looking up at Makoto, she added sadly, "I no longer feel _I_ can take the risk. I can't bear the thought of losing her."

Finally admitting defeat, Makoto sat in her seat, looking down at her feet for a moment. This wasn't the conversation she was prepared for at all. It suddenly surprised her to realize that none of them had ever talked about what to do or say if someone actually did find out. Obviously, killing Ami's mother was out of the question. She was glad that at least the doctor wasn't asking for specifics on how Ami wound up how she did since that would have been impossible to describe to someone who hadn't seen their doubles with their own eyes. Once Makoto realized there was no point denying it, she asked, trying to choose her words carefully, "So, you want me to ask her to quit? Why not talk to Ami yourself?"

Hana quietly looked down at her desk as she thought of a reply. "Yes. I want you to ask her to quit. She has gone to so much trouble to hide this from me. I feel like I would be betraying her somehow by letting her realize I'm aware of her other identity. I want you specifically to talk to her because . . . " Dr. Mizuno stopped for a moment, trying to think of a way to put her thoughts into words. "Because she trusts you more than anyone. Even me."

The brunette looked at the doctor and replied quietly, "I will ask her . . . but you have to know what the answer will be after 15 years. Not you, me, or anyone can convince her or the rest of us to give it up. It's a responsibility we all share and take seriously." Then Makoto said, "You're a very intelligent woman, so you had to already know that. So that leaves the most obvious question. What do you want me to do when she says no?"

As Makoto was talking, Hana walked around the desk to stand beside the taller woman. Once Makoto finished, Hana smiled and answered, "You're Sailor Jupiter. If she says no, I want you to do your job. The planet Jupiter keeps many dangerous large asteroids and comets from hitting the planets within the inner part of the solar system due to its large size and gravitational pull, thus allowing life to survive on earth. I don't know much about the other group of your friends, but I know out of Ami's closest friends, you're the best fighter. You have quite the martial arts talent, I'm told. You may be surprised to hear this, but Ami brags about it to me whenever you win a tournament." Looking up at Makoto with sincere respect, she finished, "I want you to protect her. Keep her safe."

"I'll do my absolute best." Then Makoto looked down at Hana in confusion. "OK. I can see how you knew we were the Sailor Senshi, but how did you know which specific one I am?"

Hana grinned. "Simple. First, Since you hit your last growth spurt toward the end of high school, you're the tallest out of all your friends. Logically, knowing that all the Senshi are named after planets save your leader, you match more of a physical description to the planet. Second, during your senior year of high school, Ami had the four of her closest friends over for a sleepover one nameless night." Chuckling at the memory, Hana finished. "I came home in the middle of the night from work to find all of you passed out in the living room. Wouldn't you know your friend Usagi talks in her sleep?"

Their conversation finished, Hana and Makoto made their way back up to Ami's hospital room. The trip was quiet all the way back since both were lost in their own thoughts. Makoto remembered checking her watch and seeing that it was only 6:30 AM. To her, it felt like the day should have been just about over with instead of just starting. When they opened the door to the room, it was Hana's turn for a surprise.

"Hi Mom!"Ami said with a smile after taking another sip of water from the cup she was holding. Ami had gotten out of bed and was sitting in a chair next to it. After Makoto left, she had decided to watch TV and catch up on the news. She was still drained a bit from her ordeal, and had a slight headache, but other than that she appeared fine.

Simple and innocent enough, except when Ami had been brought in last night, she could barely maintain her consciousness or stand. Let alone have the coordination to get out of bed and sit in a chair. Even her eyes, which should have taken another hour and a half to adjust to light at the least, weren't bothered at all by the light spilling in through the doorway. On top of that, all of the bruises she had from the previous night and most of the cuts were gone, and there was no sign of concussion. Instead of being extremely dizzy, dehydrated to the point of weakness, incredibly sore, and sensitive to light, Ami looked only mildly uncomfortable and slightly thirsty. Ami looked absolutely fine. Looking a little confused, Ami said, "Mom? Are you OK?"

Dr. Mizuno was standing in the door way with her jaw open and a dumbfounded look on her face. Makoto, squeezing between her and the door frame to get in, seemed to snap her out of it. Hana walked around the bed, staring at Ami as if she were looking at an alien. Ami got up, grabbed the post her IV was hanging from moving it with her, and walked to her mom, looking concerned. Once they were standing in front of each other, Hana said, "You shouldn't be out of bed, never mind be able to walk." Searching for a way to respond to her daughter's question, Dr. Mizuno said, "I'm impressed, that's what I am. I know you always healed quicker than most people, but honey, you shouldn't even be able to see straight right now with how bad you were last night!"

Makoto smiled as she watched. Dr. Mizuno knew Ami was a Sailor Senshi, but she didn't know just how fast they healed. They had all been beaten badly through their careers as Senshi, and were almost always able to get up and go to school or work the next morning. Makoto had expected Ami's stay in the hospital to be a day or two, but apparently it wouldn't even be that long.

Ami looked around nervously, trying to think of a response. "Well you know, I have the best doctor in Tokyo. I personally chalk it up to great medical care . . . "

Ami's mother was already listening to Ami's heart with a stethoscope and taking her pulse. Ami knew a few of the tricks in the book of medicine, so when her mother said, "I need to take your pulse again since I lost count," which is medical speak for I'm going to count your respirations now, Ami held her breath. Dr. Mizuno looked up at Ami's face and said, slightly annoyed yet at the same time amused by her daughter's antics, "Knock it off."

While her mother searched for a sphygmomanometer to take Ami's blood pressure, Ami simply laughed and said, "I'm fine, Mom, I promise! I just needed a little medical care, a good night's sleep, and a little water."

Hana looked over her shoulder at Makoto as if for confirmation. Makoto just smiled and shrugged. Looking back at Ami, Dr. Mizuno said, "All right, but I want you to stay at least for this afternoon for observation just to be on the safe side." Then trying to change the subject a little, the older blue haired woman said, "Well, I'm going to get some coffee. I'll be back in a while to check on you. Whether you feel fine or not, I want you to get back in bed and stay there, and I want you to drink more water. Look after her for me, won't you, Makoto?"

Makoto caught what Dr. Mizuno was really asking, and answered, "Of course. She'll be fine. I'll let you know if anything happens." Satisfied with the brunette's reply, Hana gave Ami a hug, then walked out the door to wherever it was doctors go, closing the door quietly behind her.

Ami asked from across the room as she was getting back in bed, "So, what did the two of you talk about?"

"Huh?" Makoto said, sounding startled by the question, then looked away from Ami's face for a moment, suddenly interested in the opposing wall. "Nothing. Nothing at all. Why?"

Ami flopped back in her bed, putting her hands over her head as she stared back up at the ceiling for a moment. Then, turning her eyes to watch Makoto as she sat back down in the chair she had woke up in this morning, and putting some of her patented angry teacher voice into her comment, Ami said, "You're a terrible liar, Makoto, and you were gone for nearly an hour."

Makoto had to stop and think for a moment. She didn't want to outright lie to Ami, but she didn't want to tell her the complete truth either. Looking down at Ami's face, Makoto sighed and said, "We just talked for a bit about you. Mostly we established that we are both worried about you and have your best interests at heart." Then Makoto looked away for a few seconds before continuing.

Sounding like she was changing the subject, Makoto decided it was as good a time as any to get Hana's request out of the way. "I think you should consider . . . quitting. I know whoever or whatever those people were we dealt with last night were not kind to you. I don't think anyone would blame you if you wanted to get away from all of it for a bit to clear your head." Makoto squeezed her eyes shut and flinched, as if she knew she were about to get hit as she thought to herself how bad that sounded to her. When no response came from Ami, Makoto opened one eye to look at the shorter woman.

Ami was sitting up in bed, sipping a cup of water and staring off into space. When she spoke, she was so quiet that Makoto almost hadn't noticed she said anything. "I got caught off-guard pretty badly, didn't I?" She took another sip of water, apparently deep in thought. It took Makoto a few more moments to realize Ami was very seriously considering it. "You guys did pretty well when you rescued me, even if the whole thing was improvised. It's also the last thing our new adversaries would see coming since they would expect me to be making the strategies used against them in battle." After a pause, while Ami sipped some more water, she said, "They came so close to breaking me, Makoto. They nearly had me believing the sky was purple if that was what it would have taken to get them to leave me alone."

Ami turned toward Makoto, saying, "I'll never quit being a Senshi . . . but perhaps for the moment . . . it would be best to step back." Ami looked at the bed railing for a moment as she organized her thoughts. Once she had, she looked up at Makoto and said confidently, "I have some things I need to work out on my own at the moment. I promise I won't leave you all hanging in a fight or something . . . but I think I need to step back . . . " After she finished talking, Ami laid back down, looking up at the ceiling. Only when Makoto saw tears start to leave Ami's eyes did she realize how hard it was for Ami to say that. As if to end the argument that was silently being waged in her mind, Ami whispered to no one in particular, "I'm no use to anyone at the moment."

Makoto suddenly felt like she had personally delivered a killing blow to her friend. "Look Ami, I take it back. I shouldn't even have -- "

Makoto was silenced by Ami putting a finger to her lips. When Ami lowered her hand, she said, "No, Makoto. You're right. They did a lot more to me than what you had the chance to see. They probably knew the physical wounds they inflicted on me would heal up relatively fast. Permanent physical damage wasn't their goal. It's the damage to my mind that will take time to heal." Closing her eyes tightly, Ami continued, "I can still hear them, Mako-chan. Taunting me from the darkness of my own mind. Laughing at me, insulting me. They took my greatest strength as a Senshi and as a human being that I have and turned it against me. Don't get me wrong, the physical beatings they gave me were not easy to endure. But . . . well, for lack of a better word . . . what they did to me mentally . . . "

Ami reached out and grabbed Makoto's hand suddenly, squeezing it as tightly as she could, trying to get some kind of security out of knowing she was with someone she could trust. "They raped my mind, Makoto. I truly can't think of another way to word it. I don't think they realize just how close they were to breaking me down to nothing. They had the best interrogator in the world to do it too. Someone who thought almost exactly like I do, only a twisted version of myself." Ami gave out a shuddering gasp as the memories of her recent ordeal came back to her once more, suddenly and vividly. "She reached into my mind and threw my most intimate, private thoughts out on the ground for all to see, like a careless child throwing toys out of a box. She could pick them up and play with them and flaunt them as if they were nothing special." Taking a breath, Ami said, "Now that I'm out of that nightmare, I find myself in a new one."

So quickly it scared Makoto, Ami jerked her hand away from hers and grabbed her own head for a moment with both hands, and curled up into a fetal position. Ami could almost feel her mind falling apart at the seams as memories came to her without her wanting to recall them, like books being violently and rapidly knocked off a shelf. She tried to scream as loud as she could, but hardly any sound came from her as all the calm she usually possessed had suddenly left her. She finally snapped, letting the rest of her thoughts spill out rapidly like precious water in the desert. "She pulled thoughts out of my head whenever she wanted, hurt me with them and then tossed them back in my mind like they were garbage! I _AM_ garbage! I'm disgusting! Weak! Useless! A freak! I'm -- "

Her last words were stopped by Makoto, as she hugged Ami as tightly as she could. Ami was completely limp now, but she was sobbing like a baby into her friend's shoulder. Makoto could hear Ami's voice as she cried out between sobs, "I can't make her stop! I can still hear her taunting me! I can't even get away from her in my sleep!" Then Ami just cried over and over for a while, begging Makoto to, "Make it stop!"

All Makoto could do was hold Ami as tightly as she could and quietly tell Ami it would be OK every time her friend begged her to make it stop, even though Makoto had no idea how to make it OK. She wanted desperately for Ami to have never gone through whatever those monsters had done to her. She would have given anything to trade places, too. It was only until after Ami had cried herself to sleep that Makoto realized she had also been crying -- both from sadness for her friend and also out of anger and helplessness at not being able to do anything for her.

Makoto eventually gently let go of Ami as the petite woman slept, still occasionally whimpering and twitching a bit in her sleep from a nightmare Makoto suddenly wasn't sure she ever wanted to fully understand. It made Makoto want to wake the poor girl up again, but she knew it would do her no good at the moment. As Makoto dried her own tear-streaked face with a convenient box of Kleenex in the room, she thought to herself that she wanted to do more than just protect Ami. As she quietly walked out of the room and closed the door so Ami could rest, Makoto put into words in her mind what she wanted. She wanted to get revenge.


	5. Chapter 5: The Other Side of the Coin

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 5: The Other Side of the Coin**

She wasn't sure if her eyes were open or not, because it was so dark. All Ami could see was a black so deep that it seemed to penetrate her very mind. The silence was deafening. Her wrists hurt and she couldn't feel her feet on the ground, which probably meant she was hanging from something by her wrists. That was all she could tell. It was maddening for her not to be able to tell anything about her surroundings. For a moment she wondered if she was dead.

Suddenly, out of the darkness, she heard footsteps, then felt something small and cold being pasted to the back of her neck and near the bottom of both her legs. Then she heard a voice. A voice so familiar it sounded like her own mind speaking outside her head.

"Such a lonely soul." The voice continued, "I just spent an entire day in your life. How sad you must be, always seeing that which you want more than anything else, just out of reach of you. So close to you, that you can brush the very tips of your fingers on it, but you can't get a hold of it. You have my sympathies. Why, it must be maddening to be you." As if she found the thought amusing, the voice laughed quietly at the last words it spoke.

Ami felt a little confused and asked, "Who's there?"

The voice roared with laughter for a moment, as if the question were hilariously amusing. Then it answered, "Put simply? You." Then sounding disgusted, and at the same time as if the voice in the darkness were pitying her, "Yet, we are different. You see, unlike you, I have the one thing you ever wanted. Love. More specifically, _her _love."

Then Ami heard a high-pitched whine followed by a sharp pain coursing through her body. It seemed to be everywhere at once, flowing through her muscles, causing them to twitch both involuntarily and in pain. She could actually feel the shape of her heart, lungs, and brain, as well as other internal organs from the intensity of it. It took her a moment to realize she was being electrocuted. She screamed in agony, her scream being heavily distorted by the electricity traveling up and down her throat, almost making her voice sound like a tire screeching on pavement. Just as suddenly as the experience started, it stopped without warning, leaving her able only to groan in agony.

A hand reached out and grabbed her chin roughly. "That, my friend, is the closest you will ever get to feeling her wrapped around your body." Then she felt another hand grab her throat and squeeze hard enough for her not to be able to breathe as the eerie voice said, "I'd be doing you a favor by killing you now. Putting you out of your misery, you might say." Then the hand crushing her throat pulled away, allowing her to breathe, which she did with a loud gasp, feeling fresh, cold air rush back into her lungs.

Ami wasn't sure if it was from the electricity or because her tormentor simply wasn't being clear enough, but she still felt confused. She knew this had to have a purpose so she asked weakly, "What do you want from me?"

The hand came back again, this time slapping her sharply, then her own voice answered her back, sighing as if disappointed. "To help you understand just how pathetic you really are. To make you see yourself how you really see yourself. Most importantly, to make you realize just how weak and powerless you really are."

"For example,_ this _is power." As the pain renewed itself through Ami's body, the voice continued as if lecturing her on physics. "Ten thousand volts of electricity coursing through your small, withering, pathetic body. A normal human would have died after seconds, but we both know you're not normal. The fact that you are still alive shows that you have some power. The fact that you're in pain, however, shows that I have far more power over you at the moment. As long as we are on the subject of power, let's talk about the power of love. Have you ever been in love, Ami?"

The pain Ami felt stopped again, but she could still feel her body convulsing on its own from the electricity still surging through her. After a few more moments of silence, Ami realized her torturer was waiting for an answer. Once she was able to, Ami said simply, "No."

The voice laughed out, shouting at the same time, "Way wrong answer!" Ami cringed, expecting more electricity to shoot through her. To her surprise, it didn't. "You love her." Then, as if letting Ami in on a little secret, the voice whispered in her ear much closer than Ami thought it would come from or was comfortable with. "Makoto Kino. You long for her attention and affection. Her touch, kiss, and most of all her love."

Continuing on, assuming a lecturing tone again, the voice said, "Unlike me, You don't have it. I think I know why. The answer is as simple to you as how gravity works. You are afraid. Not of love, or even rejection. No, no, thats not it. You, my poor little weak soul, are afraid of breaking the rules. You're afraid of what people will think. Why, for example, what would your mother say if she knew?" Touching Ami's cheek gently almost as if to wipe away a tear, her 'instructor' said, "Poor little soul. Your world would consider you as disgusting as vomit in a trash can for your simple desire to be loved by someone you are close to. Despite even how you feel about her, you see yourself as filthy, simply because of what you know are your true thoughts. This makes you feel as if you are garbage. Trash that should have been disposed of long ago. Thus, this robs you of a wonderful power you will never experience."

Ami wasn't able to stop the small whimper of sadness from leaving her lips. Her captor couldn't have hurt her more if she had physically punched her in her stomach.

"I shall do you a favor. A single act of kindness for such a wretched, sad, pathetic soul, you might say. I'll just throw the switch again, letting you experience the closest you will ever come to her. True power. Try to remember that through your suffering for the rest of your days as you long for her. Remember that I did you a favor."

Once again, Ami felt the jolt of electricity through her body. This time, the pain actually felt worse. The voltage was up so high that despite being blindfolded, Ami could actually see it arching in front of her eyes as she opened her mouth once more to scream.

It took Ami several seconds to realize that she was sitting up in bed, screaming at the top of her lungs, and that all that was wrapping around her now were her sweat-soaked blankets. The night terror was so vivid that even though she was awake, for a few seconds more she swore she could still feel the electricity surging through her. The feeling of terror was real enough, at least, causing her to hyperventilate. Even though she knew where she was, and knew she was safe, she still felt the terror of the dream gripping her heart.

She was home in bed, right where Makoto had left her that afternoon when she came home from the hospital. As she breathed rapidly with ragged breaths, it sunk in slowly that Artemus and Minako were sitting next to her bed in the dark room, with looks of concern on their faces. Still breathing heavily and clutching her chest for a moment, almost able to feel her heart's rapid beating, Ami spoke up before her roommates could say anything. "I'm okay! I'm okay! It was just a dream . . . just a dream."

Ami held her head in her hands, trying to forget the horrible nightmare. Even though she knew Minako and Artemis couldn't know what she was dreaming about, she didn't want to admit that it was more than a dream. A dream implied it had never happened, and that simply wasn't the case.

The small, white cat jumped onto one side of the bed and looked up at Ami. "We heard you screaming, so we came in to check on you. I thought you were being attacked or something. Must have been one heck of a convincing dream. It took me and Minako nearly five minutes to get you to stop screaming and wake up."

Ami's blonde friend sat down on the other side of the bed, and wrapped her arms around Ami. "Relax, Ami. Its okay now. You're safe."

Ami couldn't help but think to herself, still feeling very real fear, 'Like hell, it's okay!' Instead of voicing her thoughts, though, she pushed Minako away, got up, padded across the room to her coat hanging on the back of her desk chair, and put it on over her pajamas, saying, "I'm going to go get some fresh air." Then she grabbed her glasses off the computer desk and started to leave the room.

"It's two in the morning, Ami -- maybe you should try going back to sleep?", asked Minako. When Ami started walking down the hall without answering, Minako and Artemis got up to follow her.

Ami reached for the doorknob, but stopped when she realized she was being followed. Sounding uncharacteristically impatient, she said, "I'd rather be alone if it's all the same with the two of you." Then, less irritated and trying to make them understand, she said, "I just have some things I need to think about. I'll be okay." With that, she opened the door and left the apartment, leaving her two friends to stare at the door in confusion.

Artemis looked up at his long-time companion, twitching his ears nervously. "I don't know about you, but I'm worried about her."

"I know." Minako just kept staring at the door a few more seconds, then said, "We all are."

The door to the roof of her apartment building flew open as Ami walked outside, stretching her arms for a moment. She looked up at the full moon for a while, wanting it to answer the questions racing through her mind. When it didn't, she gave it a few more seconds of a look that said she blamed it for everything that was happening. Then she walked over to the edge of the roof, leaning over the concrete barrier to look over it. On a clear night, one could see the city skyline of Tokyo for miles in every direction, but Ami's attention wasn't on the beautiful scenery. She simply leaned over the waist-high concrete wall, looking down at the street below.

As she looked at the hard, unfeeling pavement below, a thought crossed her mind. Since no one was around, she voiced her thoughts out loud. "I could end it all right now." She pushed down on the barrier slightly with her hands, as if testing it to see if it could hold her weight, lifting herself up just a few inches for a moment. Then she took a deep breath. "No more worrying about being alone for a thousand years. No more defending a world that barely knows it's in danger or that we exist. No more stressing about Makoto, or agonizing over if things will work with Pie Lover -- or any other woman for that matter. No more dealing with my insecurities. No more night terrors. Best of all," she said last, the thought almost bringing a smile to her face, "No more pain of any kind. I can just rest and let history take its course without me." After staring down at the ground below a few more moments, she gave the wall another testing push, lifting herself just a little farther up this time.

A gloved hand came seemingly out of nowhere and gently pushed down on her shoulder, putting Ami's feet back on the solid roof. "You left out the pain your absence would cause others who care about you if you did though." Setsuna, dressed in the black and white senshi uniform of Sailor Pluto, her long dark green, almost black hair flowing in the wind added quietly, "So, for my own selfish reasons, I'd just as soon you didn't."

Ami just continued to stare out over the edge, this time focusing on the horizon. "You know I won't do it anyway." Giving herself a sad smile, the smaller woman added, "It would be too easy." Then. feeling tears run down her face. she finished, "So easy that its unimaginably tempting, Setsuna."

The Senshi of time gently pulled Ami away from the barrier. "I know it hurts now, but if you give it time, you will see that the universe will unfold as it should. You won't hurt forever." Smiling as she stood behind Ami, Setsuna finished, "You'll find that the pain might even be worth it to experience the joys your life will eventually bring you, and you'll appreciate them that much more because of how you feel right now."

Ami wasn't sure whether to be angry with Sailor Pluto for not telling her more about her future, or grateful for the small tidbit she had revealed. Somehow, knowing that helped the aching pain in Ami's spirit, if only a little.

The smaller, blue-haired woman continued to search the horizon for answers and said, "Makoto has agreed to tell the others that I'm going to take a bit to sort things out, so she will inform you all of what I learned about our new adversaries during my . . . stay with them. I feel guilty though. Like I'm abandoning them. I know it's only temporary, but I . . . "

As Ami became lost in her own thoughts, Setsuna said reassuringly, "You don't need my permission. Your reasons for needing a bit of time with a little less stress are more than acceptable enough. On top of that, you were able to make some use out of what must have been a terrifying situation by getting valuable information about your captors. When you're ready to help out again, we will accept you with open arms. We will also be here for you if you need us, just as I know you will be here for us if we need you. I just ask that you keep one more thing in mind while you sort through things."

Ami looked up at Setsuna, waiting for her to continue. Setsuna looked out at the city skyline, then said quietly, "Don't fear or deny yourself your destiny. No matter what."

* * *

"Where's Ami, anyway?", Hotaru asked out loud to whoever would answer her question.

Makoto had just finished telling the others of her new role as owner at her restaurant. Then she made a comment about wishing Ami was here after saying it, which led Hotaru to ask her question. All of the Senshi, besides Ami that is, had gathered in Rei's room for a meeting to discuss what they knew and should do about their new threat. Since a few in the group hadn't been informed of Ami's decision, Hotaru's question was a good one.

Makoto opened her mouth to answer, but was beat to it by Minako. "She's not coming."

Hotaru, Michiru, Haruka, Rei, and Usagi all had the same comment. A very surprised "What?" at the same time.

The question and answer session of the meeting was apparently going to start early, was Rei's thought. So she asked, "What do you mean she's not coming? She is the one who has had the most contact with our new threat!" No one on the team wanted to refer to the Sekkou as their doubles, or admit that they had anything in common, even though it was obvious. "Plus, she's our strategist! This is like practicing Tai Chi while missing a leg! It's...It's..." Rei looked at the others in the group, trying to think of a way to continue her tirade.

Haruka had no problems continuing it for her. "It's stupid that's what it is."

Makoto decided to speak, cutting off Usagi before she could throw in her two yen. "She's not coming because _I_ told her not to." All those in the group who still hadn't known Ami would be out for a while turned their attention from the absent member of the team to her.

Usagi looked at Makoto, confused, and asked the obvious question. "Why would you do that, Makoto? Ami hasn't missed a meeting since . . . ever."

Taking a deep breath, Makoto said, "Because she is under a lot of . . . psychological stress at the moment. Her ordeal was extremely traumatic on her. So while she comes to terms with what she went through, she is taking a break from her duties as a Senshi. She told me what she wants to say during this meeting, so she doesn't need to be here anyway. So consider her in reserve for the time being."

Minako nodded in agreement.

Then Makoto felt it was time to inform them of the small security leak. "And . . . because her mother sorta . . . asked me to suggest it to her."

Minako nodded again, then froze like a statue with her eyes wide open once it sunk in what Makoto had said.

Everyone else in the group had their eyes and mouths wide open except Setsuna, though the comment even got a reaction out of her as she raised one eyebrow and leaned forward, as if waiting for Makoto to continue.

Michiru, breaking the stunned silence, spoke quietly for everyone this time. "What do you mean, she asked you to?" After she said that, everyone else decided to speak their minds at once.

"What?! Did Ami just outright tell her everything?", Rei nearly screamed.

"Oh, my god..." spoke Minako, almost in a whisper.

Haruka yelled out, "You are kidding, right?"

Hotaru shouted at Rei, "Ami would never do such a thing!"

Setsuna even had words for that. "Now, _that_ is interesting."

Usagi just stammered, "Bu...bu...bu..."

Despite being the tallest one in the room, Makoto suddenly felt about the size of an ant. No, an ant would have been taller. Suddenly feeling angry for being forced into a corner on the subject, Makoto screamed, "Quiet!"

Once dead silence reined supreme in the room again, she continued. "She knows. Apparently, she has known since nearly the beginning. The only reason she brought it up at all was because Ami wound up in the hospital and she was concerned." Makoto left out the part about her asking Ami to quit completely. That would have infuriated everyone and officially put the group either into a frenzy or out of control entirely. "She just asks that we make sure she isn't hurt when she returns. I know none of us can guarantee that, but I promised I would do my best. Ami doesn't know, and I also agreed to keep that from her at least as long as possible." Then she added, "She knows. I felt you all should know as well. That's really all there is to say on the subject. Now, can we please move on to the main reason for this little get together?"

Everyone else in the group looked at each other, looked at Makoto and nodded. There simply wasn't much more they could do other than hope Dr. Mizuno continued to keep it a secret.

Minako decided to start the rest of the meeting off. "Ami will still be nearby, but she won't be participating in meetings, training, or the like for a while. She also suggested to me this morning that we use Hotaru as our strategist until she is ready to rejoin us."

Hotaru, still trying to make sense of everything brought up to this point, was caught off guard as she fell under the scrutiny of the group. "Why me?"

Minako smiled at Hotaru then said, "Ami actually gave several reasons for it. The main two, though, were that you are one of her best students, and because of what she heard about how you ended the hostilities during our last encounter. You showed a lot of potential in your decision making skills when you held their leader hostage in exchange for Ami and their departure."

Mostly for Makoto's benefit, Minako relayed the events leading up to how Hotaru managed to catch Dark Moon off guard. "We had decided, when we didn't find you outside, to go in and have a look. None of us knew if, or because of your lack of information, who, we were dealing with or where they were. Hotaru suggested that the outer senshi surround the outside of the building and watch to make sure no one tried to come in and jump us, and if we needed them, for us to give them a signal. When she saw the equipment fly through the wall, she decided that was a good signal to come in. She climbed up the side of the building using an old access ladder to the roof and found a way to get onto the catwalks."

Smiling when Hotaru started to blush, Minako finished, "She found Dark Moon observing the battle from above and caught her off guard. You know the rest. You saved the day, Hotaru, without using a single attack."

Haruka placed a hand on Hotaru's shoulder, silently acting as a proud 'father' should. Then Haruka said, "So what are your first words of wisdom?" to which everyone cheered.

Hotaru jumped into her new temporary position immediately even if awkwardly. "I shouldn't have done that. I should have found another way to get you all out without them seeing me. By doing that, I gave away the answer to the one question they wanted to know most at the moment. Who, if any, the outer Sailor Senshi are."

Rei said reassuringly, "They may know about you, but they can't know about your parents since they didn't see them."

Hotaru responded, "They're not stupid. Even if they aren't sure, they'll probably start looking for myself, Haruka papa, Michiru mama, and Setsuna mama in their dimension, if they haven't already, just to make sure. Of course, they'll be right."

Usagi spoke, connecting the dots in her mind out loud. "So that means they are probably going to come back with a full group."

Michiru threw her thought on the table. "They'll have to find them first, then train them. At least that buys us some time to come up with a plan. Which means it's time to start talking about what we know about them so we can get to work on that."

Makoto unfolded the paper Ami had typed up for her this morning. It was actually the second draft, since the first had words in it Makoto couldn't pronounce or understand. "Got it." she said as she started to read.

"The five we know of have different names from the five inner planetary Senshi. Usagi's double is named Serena, mine is named Lita, Ami's is Amy, Rei's is Ray, and Minako's is named Mina. They call themselves Sekkou, as in spy, or scout, instead of Senshi. Ami feels this indicates they are perhaps scouts for an invasion of some sort and are currently in the information gathering stage, or it could simply be a title."

Rei mumbled from her seat, "Oh, that's wonderful. If they come at us with all the planetary senshi, that's fine. I'd even say that would be fair. But if they pull out, say, a Dark Sailor Galaxia, you guys can count me out, okay?"

Continuing as if she hadn't heard, Makoto said, "They are essentially like us. Similar personalities, mannerisms, nearly exact appearance, and planetary association and such. But they are psychotic, and much more violent when provoked or angered, except for Serena who is strangely caring, and seams to detest the others' ways of doing things. She isn't, however, willing to betray or work against them, and tends to go along with what they decide even if she is repulsed by it. Their attacks are also more aggressive, and they will use any means necessary to accomplish a goal. They can pass for any of us, but because of differences in culture and history, as well as their previously mentioned psychology, they can only do it for so long before it would become apparent to us."

Wrapping up, Makoto said, "They are from a parallel dimension to our own. Ami's only suggestion at this time is that we come up with a 'code question' to ask each other if we think one of us isn't . . . who we seem to be. She also suggests we start fighting each other for practice again, and says that it is currently impossible for us to build a portal or otherwise come up with a way for us to bring the fight to them due to technological limitations . . . That's it."

Hotaru said quietly from where she was, "I hate to say it, but that doesn't give us much to go on. We could have guessed on most of that already . . . "

"What if we make up a question, and they anticipate it, and know the answer?", was Usagi's question. Makoto blinked a few times, thinking to herself that it was a very good question, since Ami apparently hadn't thought of an answer either, due to her not writing anything about the possibility.

* * *

In a parallel dimension not too far from where the Senshi were now, the Sailor Sekkou were having a meeting of their own. Where the shrine the Senshi meet up at in their universe would be normally was a huge skyscraper building for office space run by Ray's family. They held their meetings in the top floor, far above Tokyo in a huge spacious office. Black marble tile, concrete and steel, a wonderful view . . . the building was everything the shrine wasn't.

As Serena was lifted off the ground several feet by the collar of her Sekkou uniform by a furious Lita, Ray screamed, "Just what the hell were you thinking when you were up there anyway?"

"I was . . . watching to see if anyone else was coming," she said weakly.

Amy tapped Lita on the shoulder gently. "It's not of any concern. We found out what we wanted to know at this point in the game. If she hadn't gotten caught like that, we might not have learned a thing."

Mina looked at Amy in disbelief. "How can you stand up for her right now? You know damn well the reason she was up there was because she didn't want to fight them. I'm surprised you're willing to tolerate such weakness." Then with a bit of fear in her voice, but still angry, she asked, "Do you know what Beryl would do to us if she found out about her actions?"

Amy snapped back, "Almighty Queen Beryl only _thinks_ she is in charge. She needs us, so it doesn't matter what she knows. Yes, it was weakness. For once, a weakness that serves our purposes, so I'm willing to tolerate it this time."

More excitedly, almost sounding like a mad scientist, the blue-haired woman said, "The important thing is, the plan worked! The dimensional portal works! Since mirror matter and dark matter is present in their universe with sufficient abundance then its gravitational effects can be detected! Because mirror matter is analogous to ordinary matter, and its similarity to dark ma-"

Dark Moon cut Amy's rambling off short, shouting angrily, "You're a fool if you think she needs us for anything more than trophies!"

Lita shook Serena violently for a moment, becoming even more infuriated with Serena at insulting her girlfriend. "Then next time, you should be of more help during a fight if that's what you think!" Then, with a roar of frustration, she threw their princess down on the unforgiving ground as hard as she could.

Ray spoke, changing the subject and sounding as if nothing had happened. "So what useful little tidbits did we manage to uncover of use to us?"

Amy flipped on her mini computer for a moment, referencing notes. "I found out a ton of information on our doppelgangers for starters. Some of it may be useful, some of it may not. I'll print up reports of what I found out about them for all of you. Most of it is from observation, so it may only be things specific to a situation, may not be useful at all, or may be valuable. Time will tell."

Then, more concerned, she said, "Their history is vastly different. Obviously, for starters, they managed to defeat at least Beryl. That's why she fears them."

"Their technology is vastly inferior to ours. City layouts are flipped or scrambled beyond recognition, but many building designs and functions are similar... I've got so much data to analyze, its insane." She had nearly filled her data computer to its capacity and hadn't scratched the surface of their Internet. It was just a glimpse at their culture and thought, but it would have to do. Even still, it was a tremendous amount of information.

"Culturally, there world is completely different. Homosexual relationships, for example, are generally regarded as taboo, though at the moment it seems to be very slowly becoming acceptable. They still use a primitive economic system based on money. As another example, they drink alcohol, which is a chemical substance we use for medicinal and cleaning purposes only . . . great stuff, by the way." Amy stopped a moment while she gathered her thoughts. So much information, so little time to go over it all. Then she said, "There isn't any way we are going to be able to try a swap for near as long as we did this time again now that they are aware of us though. Their culture is just too different and primitive for them not to notice. Eventually we would slip up. But we may be able to do it for a few hours if necessary."

Then Amy added, going back to mad scientist mode again, "On a scientific note, which no one else seems to be interested in hearing at the moment, dark matter makes up something like seventy-three percent of their galaxies in their universe. Since dark matter is extremely useful to-"

Mina nodded impatiently. "Yea, yea! Bla bla bla! What about the extra Senshi?"

Sighing, Amy said, "Some people have no appreciation for a scientist. Well, I know who they are in their universe, or at least I think I know. But it's going to take time to find them without tipping Beryl off as to what we are up to."

Rising from the floor, Serena said, "That's where I come in."

The other Sekkou looked at her a little doubtfully. "Beryl is going to listen to you tell her we want to awake four more Sailor Sekkou?", asked Ray. "She barely trusts us enough to let us live."

"She won't just let us. By the time I get through talking to her, she'll even help us do it!" Serena said confidently.


	6. Chapter 6: Love's Icy Edge

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 6: Love's Icy Edge**

The five Sekkou surrounded the guard to Beryl's chamber as he said again in a louder voice, trying to stress his point. "Beryl has specifically requested not to be disturbed by anyone. I'm sorry, but you can't enter."

Dark Sailor Venus grabbed the guard by the throat. "What business we have with the Queen can't wait. Let us in or we will be forced to kill you."

The guard nearly laughed at the unfairness of his situation. "If I let you in, Beryl will have me executed. If I don't, You'll break my neck. So, you know what?" The man shouted angrily, "Go ahead! I'd much rather be put out of my misery by you than -- AGH!" A loud, wet, cracking sound was the last thing the man ever heard before Mina let his lifeless body slide to the ground with a thud.

"Such a waste. We lose more talented guards that way," was Ray's response as Lita pushed the large door open. Even though the door moved slowly, it still made a loud banging sound once it was fully opened, as if to alert the occupants in the room. They could hear soft piano and violin music coming from somewhere in the room. Beryl was in the middle of enjoying a private concert from two of her many court entertainers.

As they entered, Serena spoke first, regarding Beryl who was seated on her throne in the center of the huge room. "I apologize for our rudeness, your highness, but we have news of our mission." Beryl merely nodded, only half listening.

"Dark Mercury's dimensional portal works and we were able to infiltrate a group of Sailor Sekkou from an alternate reality. We were able to gather a great deal of intelligence that will aid us in future attacks. Within a short time, we are confident that we will be able to defeat them. However, we will require help from you to do so. You see, in their dimension, they have nine sailor warriors. We can't --"

Beryl finally cut Serena off by hurling a ball of dark energy at her, sending her sliding across the floor. A lesser mortal would have been blown to bits. "How stupid do you think I am?" Beryl looked at the other four Sekkou, waiting for one of them to answer.

After several moments of tension, Dark Mercury stepped forward quietly. "My lady, if I may?" She said, bowing deeply, showing respect. "What Serena says is true. We are outnumbered. Without more Sekkou, we can't even hope to win." Then Dark Mercury hit a small button on a holographic projector she had with her. A large, bright image of a galaxy appeared. Around the familiar shape of the galaxy, a large blue sphere formed, encompassing it.

Beryl waited patiently for Dark Mercury to continue. While the queen had little patience for sucking up, begging, and people trying to manipulate her, she was willing to listen to a person willing to get to the point. So long as the point benefited her, that is.

"This is their galaxy. The blue surrounding it is a representation of dark energy and dark matter. Dark energy makes up approximately seventy three percent, and dark matter makes up twenty three percent of the total mass of their galaxy. If my math is correct, that makes ninety six percent of their galaxy's mass as dark material. Material we . . . by we, I of course mean you. . . . can convert to raw energy." She then pushed another button on the projector, causing an equally large projection of another galaxy to appear next to the one she had finished describing. However, this one lacked a huge percentage of the blue sphere the other had. "This is our galaxy. While it has the same amount of material for stars, gas, planets, etcetera, it lacks near the amount of dark matter and energy as theirs." As if to demonstrate, the two images merged together for comparison. The lack of dark matter and energy in their universe seemed to affect the very rotation and stability of their galaxy. It appeared to lose stars slowly as it turned from a lack of mass to produce enough gravity to hold the galaxy together.

Dark Mercury smiled only slightly as she watched Beryl look at the tempting carrot she had placed before her. Trying to push Beryl into making a decision she said, "Just imagine it. So much power all yours. The only thing standing in your way is the fact that we don't have enough man power to take out the only threat able to prevent you from taking it." In mock disappointment, she said, "What a pity."

Dark Venus decided to finish their explanation and try to hammer home the all-encompassing point. "On top of that, we will bring you the bodies of the fallen Senshi for you to resurrect with the power of the Ginzuishou, doubling the strength of your loyal Sekkou and enabling us to be able to do this once again to another universe much quicker, and so on. Your power would suddenly give the word infinite a new meaning, and instead of a mere five Sekkou, you would eventually have an army."

Amy had taken the moment to observe the two performers still playing music as if nothing were going on. Once Mina had finished talking, she said, "Oh and by the way, two of the people we are looking for? Yeah... They're right over there." She said, pointing over her shoulder at the two musicians. She didn't show it, but she was incredibly nervous. If she was wrong about her guess she had made during their encounter with the Senshi, Beryl would be most displeased with her, which would lead to a rather painful and unpleasant punishment and possibly end.

Beryl smiled in amusement. "So, if I give you a couple of new toys, you'll do so much for me? How thoughtful." Then in a loud commanding voice she said to the two musicians, "You two! Stand before me."

The aqua haired woman playing the violin and the sandy blond woman who had been playing the piano immediately stopped performing and walked nervously toward their queen. Once they were standing where their majesty had commanded, they, both in respect and fear, knelt before her.

The aqua haired woman, Michelle, said quietly, "What is thy bidding, my Queen?"

As a sinister smile appeared on Beryl's face, she said, "I am going to present the two of you with a gift, you might say. Consider it a reward for your loyal services. Power and status far beyond what you would ever achieve in your current life. Prepare yourselves to join the elite ranks of the mighty Sekkou.

Amara spoke next, sounding surprised by the comment. Not looking up, mostly in fear, she said "It . . . would be an honour, your majesty. One we . . . regret we must refuse. Our duty is to our music, our relationship with each other, and to your service as court musicians. We could never hope to . . . succeed in the life you present to us, nor live up to your expectations." She finished trying to sound diplomatic and attempting to hide the fear she could feel within her.

Beryl laughed down at her two servants. A cruel cackling sound that sent a cold feeling into the very souls of Amara and Michelle. "What makes you think I'm giving you a choice?" Then Beryl lifted the Ginzuishou and pointed it at Michelle. Before anyone could speak, a bright light flew from the powerful object, slamming into Michelle, sending her flying to the far wall. Her body hit the cold hard stone so hard that nearly every bone in her body shattered on impact. As her now lifeless form slid to the ground, it left a red streak of blood.

Amara stood and watched the horrifying spectacle. Her best friend and lover killed faster than she could blink, for a reason she could not yet understand. She slowly turned to Beryl too angry to be sad. "You. . . . You . . . I . . . " She stammered for a moment, unsure what to do. She then decided it was better to join her mate in death than to beg for her life. "I'll kill you!" she said at last, running at Beryl as fast as she could, out for blood.

The Sekkou started to move to intercept her, but stopped when Beryl merely lifted a hand. As if to change the channel on a TV with a remote, she again sent a ray of energy flying, this time at Amara's head. Upon impact, the sound of shattering bone was heard when her head was twisted back so far, that the back of her skull hit her spine. Her face was mangled so badly that it was merely a bloody crater, then her body joined her lover's on the floor with an undignified thud.

Ray and Lita quietly dragged Michelle's body to lay next to Amara's. Sailor Moon looked up at Beryl and said, "I take it then, you see our point."

Beryl said nothing as she pointed the Ginzuishou at the dead. A third light, this time less brutal than the previous two, formed around the bodies. They crumbled to ash after a moment, and two small star like lights appeared above them, the two women's souls. Beryl then gestured with her free hand causing dark energy to engulf the two small lights causing them to dim some what, then watched as they fell back toward the two piles of ash on the ground. Then, the ash took shape of the two fallen musicians. Color, flesh, blood, and life suddenly appeared back within them just as quickly as it had been taken from them.

Beryl laughed again saying, "Rise mighty Sekkou of the wind! Dark Sailor Uranus!"

As Michelle quietly rose to her feet she said, "And to think . . . I hesitated." She admired her new uniform, the black, blue, and yellow uniform of Sailor Uranus.

Sounding amused, Beryl then spoke, "And rise, Powerful goddess of the oceans, Dark Sailor Neptune."

Amara stood quietly without a word, now garbed in her new black and aqua uniform, that of Dark Sailor Neptune. She could only stand in awe at the power she felt coursing through her.

Dark Mars bowed politely. "Thank you, your majesty. We leave at once with your blessing to commence with our new comrades' training, and to find the last two remaining Sekkou."

Beryl smiled evilly down at the sekkou. "As I said earlier, how stupid do you think I am? You needn't waste your time searching for them." Then Beryl snapped a finger and said, "May I present to you Hotaru, my dear Sekkou of time, Sailor Pluto, and Trista, the Sekkou of death and rebirth, Dark Sailor Saturn. My most loyal of servants."

Hotaru, the mighty Dark Sailor Pluto a small girl, merely a child, seamed to some how demand much more respect than her appearance alone would give her as she emerged from behind the throne in her solid black uniform and holding the Garnet rod. From the opposite side of the throne Trista, Dark Sailor Saturn, walked from the shadows wearing her purple, maroon, and black uniform, brandishing the Silence Glaive. The two moved so silently that barely a sound was heard as their feet touched the marble floor while they walked.

"They will join you in the training and conditioning of the new Sekkou." To herself she thought, 'and they will insure your loyalty.'

* * *

Ami zipped up the back of her dress, nearly done dressing herself for a concert tonight. Her group of friends were all going to attend since it was Haruka and Michiru's debut of a new song they had both composed, and to get everyone's mind off of current events, even if just for a little while. While Ami had decided to take a momentary break from her duties as the Senshi of Ice, that didn't excuse her from social events with friends.

Minako had insisted that Ami wear something other than the simple outfit she had picked so she was now back in her room changing into the third dress of the evening. This one was a white dress that was fairly tight, but not too revealing, with a low back. Her mother, who was with her when she bought it, had described it as 'clinging to you in just the right places', to which Ami had blushed profusely. It was the same dress she had worn to Usagi and Mamoru's wedding. Being how much she paid for it, it was good to be trying to actually get her yens' worth out of it.

As she walked out of her room, Minako stood at the end of the hallway. She had put on a light blue evening gown with her trademark red bow in her hair and matching high heels. "Better," She said simply. Then a look of irritation crossed her face as she said, "What? No makeup?! And we have to do something with your hair too!"

"We're going to be late as it is, Minako! There isn't enough time." Sighed Ami, starting to feel frustrated. What did she want? Perfection?

Minako was already starting down the hall with a brush and a small makeup kit saying, "There's always enough time! Besides, have you been to Suntory Hall before? We're lucky Haruka and Michiru could even get us discounted tickets. It's a really ritzy place and we should look . . . I don't know . . . ritzy!"

Ami sighed in defeat as Minako began combing her hair a bit and powdering her face, causing her to cough delicately for a moment. "Yeah, I know, but is all of this really necessary, Minako?"

As Minako applied a light pink lipstick to Ami, she said, sounding hurried and at the same time anxious, "Yes!" Ami didn't know it, but at that very moment, Minako expected Rei was having the exact same conversation with Makoto. The plan was to have the two of them get dressed up all nice and pretty like, sit next to each other and . . . they hadn't thought that far ahead yet. Since it was now Wednesday evening, Minako and Rei only had till Saturday to get the two of them together before Ami's date. They were starting to grasp desperately at any chance to get the two of them together at this point, and the current opportunity was as good as any. Minako found it ironic that they were all going to live hundreds of years by their most conservative estimates, yet they never seemed to have enough time on their side.

Stepping back to admire her work for a moment, Minako nodded, now satisfied, and said, "There now, that's better." Then, not even giving Ami a chance to see, she grabbed Ami's hand and started running so fast she nearly jerked Ami off her feet. "Now let's go!"

Hotaru and Setsuna were waiting outside the Hall for the last two to arrive. The others were already seated and listening to the opening act. Hotaru, wearing a black dress with a purple scarf, said impatiently, "What is taking them so long?"

Setsuna, wearing a light green evening gown, spoke patiently, "Everything happens at its own pace Hotaru, don't worry, they'll be here soon. Besides, you're the one who wanted to wait here with me. They'll arrive right when they are supposed to." For Ami's destiny, she thought, letting the last part echo in her head.

Just then, Minako and Ami came sprinting down the sidewalk with their purses flying back in the wind as they ran toward them. Minako, in a panic, said "Wait for us!"

As they came to a stop on the step below Hotaru and Setsuna, Ami said, breathing heavily, "Are we locked out?"

"No," said Setsuna, smiling at Ami, "A few more minutes and you would have been, but you're just in time." Setsuna said the last part to Hotaru as if to emphasize her earlier comment. "Let's go get our seats." With that, the four of them walked in to join the others.

The Auditorium was spacious, to say the least. Able to seat two thousand and six people, the seats were arranged so that the stage was in the center of the theater instead of toward the front, giving more of a feel of oneness with the performers on stage and the audience. With the lights turned down, it was a perfect place to listen to a musical performance. So partially by design, but also because of wonderful and ever increasing talent, Haruka and Michiru never sounded so good. They almost seemed to actually get better every song.

Even still, Ami squirmed in her seat. The seats were made of wood which provided for better acoustics than other types of seating would provide, even if it wasn't as comfortable. Though the reason Ami was having trouble staying still wasn't because of the seating. She hadn't heard from Cherrypielover all day. While this wasn't too unusual since it was the middle of the week and they were both usually busy around this time, Ami had felt a need to make up for lost time from when she had been captured. Plus, being that their date was in only a few short days, she had wanted to talk to her even more so than in the past. Ami's anticipation for Saturday was one of the few things helping her keep her sanity and depression under control at the moment, though she was also nervous and excited about it at the same time. Those feelings also made her worry she was putting her hopes up and her expectations too high, not to mention perhaps moving too fast.

Makoto was wearing a light pink evening gown that sparkled like glitter, or stars. Rei had fixed her hair so that it was tied back lower and more adult like than her usual simple ponytail. She leaned over, whispering into Ami's ear, "Are you all right?"

Ami shuddered at the feeling of the brunette's breath on her, but killed any thoughts about Makoto by thinking to herself about Pielover. Adjusting her glasses nervously, she whispered back, "No, I'm fine . . . look, I'll be right back. I need to take care of something really quick." Then without looking at Makoto, she got up and made her way out of the auditorium to the lobby.

She found a bench in the large, deserted room off to the side that, thankfully, was cushioned and sat down. Now out of the way of prying eyes, she pulled her cell phone out of her purse. CherryPieLover usually left her computer on so she would receive her messages even if she wasn't there. Maybe if Ami was really lucky, the other woman would have her cell phone on her too.

Makoto kept glancing at the empty seat next to her occasionally after Ami had departed. Suddenly, she felt her small purse start vibrating. Her damn cell phone! "Thank god I at least turned the ringtone off!" she whispered to herself as she took it out of its hiding place. Seeing a text message from PBJ made all feelings of frustration leave her. Not paying attention to the fact that her sudden burst of movement had drawn irritated glances from the rest of her friends, she typed back a reply.

_PBJ1978 has signed on at_ 8:15 (PM)

PBJ1978: Hi! It's me. Hope I'm not bothering you. I just wanted to let you know I'm doing OK. I'm actually at a concert with some friends, but I snuck away for a moment to drop you a line.

Cherrypielover: I'm fine. Out of curiosity, you wouldn't happen to be at Suntory Hall by any chance, would you?

PBJ1978: I think I'm actually going to faint! You're HERE?

Cherrypielover: You make it sound like that's a bad thing, love :D

PBJ1978: No! No no no no no no! It's just . . . I want to see you is all, but I can wait until our date. I'm just looking forward to it. And a little nervous.

Cherrypielover: Me too. So, where are you anyway?

PBJ1978: I'm seated in P block, near the 5th row from the front. Any more specific than that and you'd probably see me earlier than planned/wink

Makoto's heart nearly jumped out of her throat at that revelation.

Cherrypielover: Holy smokes! You're practically right next to me! What are you wearing?

PBJ1978: Ha ha! Calm down, sweetheart. I'm not in the auditorium at the moment. It would be rude of me to use my cell phone during such a beautiful concert. I stepped out for a minute. I guess you're still in there . . . Well, I'm going to let you go for now so we can both enjoy the remainder of the show without distractions.

PBJ1978: Oh, by the way, I'm wearing white :D Nightie night!

PBJ1978 has signed off (8:30PM)

Barely audible and with a small smile on her face, Makoto said to herself, feeling like her head was spinning, "That little tease." She looked around for a moment despite what PBJ had said, but realized that it would be pointless since white was a fairly common color for a dress. "Even Ami is wearing white," she sighed to herself.

Usagi, who was seated on the opposite side of Makoto, leaned toward her, drawing an irritated glance from Mamoru as she did so and said, "You noticed her dress too, huh? I thought it looked nice on her. It's kinda nice seeing Ami dressed up for once isn't it? Minako said that . . ."

The rest of Usagi's words were drowned out by the blood rushing out of Makoto's face for a moment. Makoto's eyes suddenly went wide as a thought crossed her mind and she looked at the empty seat again. Usagi tapped her on the shoulder gently and whispered,"Mako-chan? Are you OK?"

Half in a panic, half in excitement, Makoto said a little louder than she meant to, drawing a few irritated glances from nearby patrons, "Illberightback!" and got up. As fast as was politely excusable she made her way to the lobby in the direction Ami had departed.

Sure enough, once Makoto got to the lobby, she saw Ami sitting on the far side of it with a small sappy smile happily pasted on her face, clutching a cell phone to her chest, lost in thought. Behind her glasses, her eyes sparkled with joy. She looked beautiful in a lonely sort of way sitting there all alone.

As Makoto watched her, she thought that the cell phone was practically like a smoking gun. Makoto ducked back behind the door frame trying to keep herself from going hysterical. She went over the facts in her head again for a moment. Ami, wearing a white evening gown, at Suntory Hall, holding a cell phone, out in the lobby, right after PBJ1978 just described the same thing. She wondered what the statistics were for that just being a coincidence, but then felt her head spin again as she realized the only person who would be able to calculate that was Ami.

"Get a grip, Makoto!" she said to herself nervously. Forcing herself to relax, she took a deep breath, made up her mind, then turned round the door frame again this time intending fully to speak to Ami. It was finally time for them to admit how they really felt about each other. Just as Makoto practically flung herself around the door frame intending to do just that, she ran right into Ami, who had apparently been on her way back to her seat, nearly knocking her over. Ami let out a surprised squeak as she regained her balance, looking up at Makoto for a moment as she did so.

Makoto's eyes went wide for the second time that night and she brought up her hand, chewing on her finger nervously. "Sorry, Ami . . . I . . . I . . . I didn't know you were right there."

'_You . . . stupid . . . CHICKEEEEN!',_ she thought in regards to herself, rather angrily within the safe confines of her skull.

Still sounding a little dreamy, Ami said, "Hi Makoto. I was just on my way back. I hope I didn't worry you." Seeming to snap out of a daze finally, the bluenet said, "Let's go back to our seats before we miss more of the performance. I think they're about to get to the new song they have been going on and on about." She started to make her way down the stairs, when she felt a strong yet gentle hand land on her shoulder, stopping her. Confused Ami turned back around to regard Makoto curiously.

"We need to talk for a moment, Ami . . . It won't take long, I promise," was Makoto's reply. Ami couldn't help but notice how serious the taller woman sounded. Without a word she followed Makoto back out into the lobby and had a seat on the same bench she had just left a moment before. The small woman watched as her tall friend began pacing back and forth nervously.

"Are you feeling OK, Makoto?" asked Ami. She was wondering if she had done something wrong. She knew it wasn't entirely polite of her to walk out of the performance like that, but she didn't think Makoto or anyone else would be that upset about it. It was just for a moment, after all. But just to make sure, she asked, "Did I do something wrong?"

Makoto stopped pacing and looked down at Ami. "No . . . actually, I'm the one who has done something wrong." Taking another deep breath to calm herself before she spoke to Ami, she said, "It's time for me to be honest with you about how I really feel."

Ami looked up at Makoto again and said, "If this is about me leaving my seat during the concert I promise I really was on my way back . . . "

"Huh? Oh no!" Makoto let out a nervous laugh. "It's not about that at all. But in a way I guess it is." Then she stammered out, "But you didn't do anything wrong . . . It's just . . . " How in the world was she supposed to tell Ami this? She was becoming so nervous that she was starting to breath faster. She wrung her hands for a moment, noticing how sweaty they seemed to feel.

Ami smiled up at Makoto, touching her hand for a moment. Makoto swore she felt sparks from the contact. "It's OK Makoto, calm down. You know you can tell me anything."

After taking what she swore would be her last deep breath of the evening, Makoto decided the best way to do it was to just freaking say it already. "I . . . " She grabbed both of Ami's hands, pulling her up to her feet. "I love you. I have for a long time now. I know I should have said something sooner, but I . . . I was scared. I was just a kid when I first noticed it, but I . . . " As a thousand thoughts flowed through her mind Makoto settled on "I love you . . . I . . . felt I should let you know. I just figured it was a good time to tell you . . . Now or never kind of thing ya know?. . . um . . . Don't you have something to say to me?"

Ami had a lost look on her face through most of what Makoto had said. She started to move her lips slowly for a moment, but no sound came out. Her eyes were wide with surprise behind her glasses. At first, Makoto had thought she had seriously screwed up big-time and was going to become the laughingstock of Tokyo for the rest of her very long life. "You . . . love . . . me?" Ami said, almost as if asking to make sure she had heard the taller woman correctly.

Makoto said, shaking a bit, "Well, uh . . . Yes."

Ami's reaction wasn't what Makoto had thought it would be. It also wasn't what she had hoped. Not by a long shot. Ami looked over her glasses at Makoto with that same creepy look Hana Mizuno had given her at the hospital, then repeated with just a bit of anger and a hint of frustration thrown into the recipe for good measure, "You love me." Makoto stepped back for a moment, as Ami balled her hands up into fists at her side, gritting her teeth together so hard that Makoto could hear it. She bit out angrily, "For how long?" Her usually quiet voice suddenly echoed through the large lobby like the voice of an angry goddess.

Makoto felt herself turn pale. Apparently she had horribly misread the situation. "Look, Ami I'm-"

Ami took another step toward her, visibly angry. "Answer the question, Makoto."

"I . . . I'm not sure. I've had feelings for you for a long time now . . . I don't know . . . fourteen . . . maybe fifteen years?" stammered out Makoto. She had no choice, really, but to take whatever Ami was about to dish out at this point.

Narrowing her eyes and adjusting her glasses as she looked at Makoto, Ami said in disbelief and anger, "Fifteen years, you say?" Then she yelled, "You kept me waiting half my life? You waited till _now,_" as if to emphasize the last word, Ami slammed her cell phone on the ground so hard it flew to pieces, "to tell me that?" Taking her turn to take a deep breath, Ami said between clenched teeth, "Do you have any _idea_ how much, how long, and how often you have hurt me by not telling me that sooner?"

Makoto stepped forward, trying to make an attempt to calm Ami. "Look Ami, I'm sorry, honest. I'll make it up to -- "

Ami cut her off by pushing the brunette away from her. She took her glasses off as if they were obscuring her vision for a moment, as she tried to hold back tears. "No, you won't. You'll never get the chance to make it up to me. Because . . . " Ami stopped for a moment feeling tears run down her face, then angrily wiped them away. Quieter, she said, "Because you're too late, Makoto. I gave you so many chances and opportunities over the years. Hell, I was even going to tell you how I felt at that dance we attended in high school once we finished dancing, but we know how _that_ went. You went off and danced with someone else!" Ami stomped her foot while saying the last word, almost like a child throwing a tantrum as 15 years of frustration and repressed emotions finally came boiling to her usually calm surface for all to see.

After holding her breath for a moment to try to calm herself a little, Ami said, "You simply waited too long now. I've finally found someone else. They make me happy, and they deserve to be given a chance. To not do that would be just as bad to them as what you have done to me. She beat you to me, Makoto, and you had a 15 year head start on her." Unable to hide the sadness that was lurking beneath her anger, she finished, now unable to hold back the rest of the tears, "You're not the one who has to apologize, I do. I'm sorry, Makoto, but you're too late."

Makoto reached toward Ami, saying, "No wait, let me explain!"

She was greeted by Ami turning away from her and walking quickly toward the door. As she did so, Ami said sadly, "You have explained enough. Goodnight Makoto." Then looking over her shoulder she said, putting her glasses back on as if they would hide her tears, "I really am sorry."

Makoto still stood a moment more holding her hand out toward the now retreating Ami and watched sadly as the other woman walked through the glass doors on her way back to her car. She lowered her hand and slumped her head, looking down at the parts of Ami's shattered cell phone, now as fractured as her dreams.

Unknown to both of them, Hotaru, Setsuna, Rei, Usagi and Minako had all gone up to check on the two of them while Mamoru stayed behind to put a polite showing for their group. He had wanted to go too, but it was his job as the gentleman to stay.

They were all standing in the doorway entrance to the auditorium. Setsuna was shaking her head sadly, as Hotaru asked her, "It . . . wasn't supposed to go like that, was it?"

As if looking up to the heavens for an answer, Setsuna glanced at the ceiling tiles and said, "No. No it wasn't."

Hotaru replied, "That's bad, isn't it?" Setsuna didn't even answer her as she watched Makoto sadly.

Rei was quietly, yet rhythmically beating her head against the door frame almost in time to the music that Michiru and Haruka were playing. Turns out, the new selection was a sad slow song which matched everyone's mood at the moment. It seemed to Rei as if the two talented musicians might as well have been up there with them saying how they felt about the current events too.

Usagi just stared toward the door that Ami had left through. She had been oblivious to everything between the two of them until now, but as she had watched she hoped it would have gone better. The two of them would have made each other very happy. It especially bothered her to see her friend she had had the longest, Ami, hurting so much. Part of her wanted to run after her friend to console her, and the other part wanted to smack Ami over the head and ask her if she was crazy. Instead, all she could manage was to barely keep from crying.

Minako looked from between her fingers as she covered her face. To her the incident they had just watched play out in front of them was more like a horrible car accident with body parts strewn across the road in a gory, bloody, mess. So horrible, yet you can't look away. Minako said, to no one in particular, "We really screwed this up, didn't we." The other four silently nodded in unison.


	7. Chapter 7: Shocking Conversation

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 7: Shocking Conversation**

"OK . . . well, I'm not sure about anyone else here, but my head hurts now," Haruka said from her place on the couch, after listening to Makoto describe to her and Michiru how badly things had gone when she had tried to tell Ami how she truly felt and how she had found out who her online girlfriend was.

Normally, personal relationships were discussed outside of senshi business. In this case it was an exception. Setsuna had made a call to let everyone in on a small secret about the future. Perhaps the largest disturbance that had happened so far to the time stream since Ami's first encounter with the Sekkou had occurred tonight. Originally, Makoto was supposed to have enough time to tell Ami she was Pielover. Instead, because of Ami's current emotional and psychological problems from her capture, she hadn't given her enough time to explain that and left.

On the surface, that would still seem like a personal problem, as said before. However, Ami and Makoto's relationship was somehow connected to the formation of Crystal Tokyo in the future, about which Setsuna was less forthcoming with details. The point was, unless the two lovebirds got together and started, well, loving, everything about the future would be thrown into question. While the evil Sekkou were a looming threat, at the moment they were the distant one. So for the first time ever, the Sailor team was being forced to play a no holds barred, high-stakes game of love connection to solve the fate of the future world. No pressure, right?

It was time for suggestions. The Senshi of love and Ami were absent from the current emergency meeting being held at Makoto's apartment following the concert. Ami and Minako had gone back to their apartment where Minako was hopefully living up to her constant comments about being the Senshi of love while the rest decided what to do.

Haruka grabbed her head in her hands for a moment, deep in thought. How hard could this be? When no ideas came to her, she said quietly, earning her a thump on the back of the head from Michiru for saying it in Hotaru's presence, "I need a beer. OW!"

Hotaru said, "Why not just have Makoto march over there right now and tell her? Wouldn't that be simple enough?"

Rei sighed, then said, "Because it's too risky this soon after receiving a wound to the heart like that, and Ami may . . . over analyze it. If Makoto says something now, Ami may think Minako has been messing with her computer while she isn't around and merely supplied Makoto with the name. Plus, destroying her trust in all of us." Rei decided it was best not to mention that both her and Minako _had_ actually been doing just that.

"Plus, she's a total emotional basket case at the moment, and Kami knows wha- OW! Will you quit that!?" Haruka had made the honest, yet hurtful comment and received a warning knock from her lover reminding her to mind her manners again.

Ignoring the two of them, Setsuna said, "The point is, Hotaru, whatever we do, it has to be done delicately. If we move too fast and crowd Ami while she is hurting, it could make things even harder."

Usagi looked like she was about to strain something from thinking so hard. Suddenly, she piped up, "Hey! I've got an idea! How about a romantic dinner, dancing . . . a walk . . . roses . . . You know? The basics! We can all chip in and turn it into a truly romantic night for the two of them."

"Oh yeah," said Rei sarcastically. "That's a great idea. But how do we get them together _for _said date?"

Usagi's sheepish reply was, "Well . . . I hadn't thought that far ahead yet . . . "

Rei groaned in a fit of irritation, then said, "Well . . . at least it's a good idea for what to do for the date once we get to that part. Any ideas on how to set them up, Setsuna?"

Setsuna, who was deep in thought, almost hadn't noticed she was being addressed. Looking up, surprised, she said, "Don't look at me. I haven't been romantically involved with someone since . . . October 27th 1482." That drew a lot of looks from her group of friends.

Mamoru covered his eyes with one hand in embarrassment as Usagi asked, "How can you go for five hundred twenty odd years without . . . it? That would drive me crazy!" Setsuna blushed furiously, both in shock for being asked such a private question, and because, coming from Usagi, the question sounded somehow worse than it was since she usually came across as being so innocent.

Michiru covered Hotaru's ears. "That's a rather personal question, don't you think, Usagi?" Michiru said in Setsuna's defense.

Haruka said, laughing, "Oh no, I'd love to hear the answer to that one!"

Michiru looked at Haruka angrily. "You really want to sleep on the couch tonight, don't you?"

Haruka's response was to mimic zipping her lips and throwing away a key.

Mamoru shrugged. "I could give you a few pointers if you were looking to hook one of you up with a guy, but I haven't got the slightest clue how to keep one woman happy, let alone two."

Usagi gushed, "You're so modest, Mamo-chan."

Makoto finally decided to remind the rest of them she was a part of this conversation too. Gradually raising her voice with every syllable from a whisper to practically screaming, she said, "Would you guys mind focusing on the problem at hand?!"

Luna, who had tagged along to the concert in Usagi's purse, decided to speak her mind. Raising a paw in an effort to get their attention, the small black cat said from atop the TV, looking like a queen speaking from a lofty throne, "I've got an idea."

Rei looked at Luna for a moment. "An alien cat is going to give us all knowledge on setting up two lesbian _human _women. This I gotta hear. Tell us, Luna, does it involve catnip and a scratching post? If so, I can't wait to see the video."

"You know, given the choice between listening to all of you go on and on, or hearing what the cat is going to let out of the bag, I choose the cat!" Makoto said, finding it difficult to hide her frustration. "From what I can tell, Luna and I have one thing in common. We're the only two here who don't find this amusing!"

While everyone else suddenly found something else other than making eye contact with Makoto a good thing to do, Luna said politely, "Why don't you just have 'Cherry pie lover' stick with the plan? The only difference is that now you will have a bigger budget to work with than you were probably planning, and you have more information than you did before. You know who your date is now, at least."

Makoto opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't quite figure out what to say, so she closed her mouth again and just stared at the cat. Hotaru decided to speak for her. "That's just crazy enough to work!"

"I vote for waiting for Ami to come to her senses, honestly." said Rei. "I mean, can you see the look on Ami's face when she is expecting to meet this dashing mysterious woman, and in walks the woman who's been slowly breaking her heart into little tiny pieces for a little over half her life?"

"That's not very fair, Rei. I was a kid! I was scared! What was I supposed to do?" was Makoto's angry and slightly hurt reply.

Rei looked at Makoto, a little irritated, as she said coldly, "I don't know . . . you could have told her . . . maybe?"

Haruka sat up and spoke, even though she knew it would earn her at least the current night's sleep on the couch. "No no Makoto, I think Rei is onto something. Just picture it for a sec. There's Ami, sitting there all shyly, prettied up, and looking to finally get over 15 years of suffering and repressed desire from not receiving the affection from someone who she loved by falling for someone else. Then, Makoto sits down next to her and says, 'Hey baby, miss me?'" Then, miming the action Haruka thought Ami would take, she said, "Then, POW! Mako-chan gets slapped upside the face with the world renowned slap-heard-round-the-world." Sitting back, smiling sarcastically, she said, "Yeah, that'll go great. I know you guys hate hearing this, but Ami is a bit of an emotional basket case at the moment."

Michiru was just about to pound Haruka again when she realized something. "I think Haruka and Rei have a point. Makoto would be taking an awful risk to approach this right now . . . "

Setsuna said quietly, "Love is always a risk. I think that -- "

Makoto suddenly interrupted Setsuna, saying, "Did anyone else hear that?"

Luna perked her ears up for a moment as everyone strained to listen for a sound, then said, "No. Hear what?" Just as Luna finished, a soft quiet chime was heard coming from the direction of Makoto's bed room. As soon as the chime finished, Makoto turned on her heels and ran toward the computer. Everyone else looked at the empty spot where the woman had been a moment before.

Hotaru said, "I think we should leave them alone and let them figure it out for themselves. Wouldn't that be the most responsible thing to do?"

Setsuna said quietly, "I think I'm going to go peek in and make sure Makoto doesn't put her foot in her mouth again." As Setsuna turned to walk down the hall, everyone remaining in the room followed like a small army behind her.

PBJ1978: Please tell me you're there.

PBJ1978: I really could use someone to talk to. You may still be out I suppose.

As everyone piled into the room behind Makoto, she said to herself quietly, "What do I say to her?"

Everyone started chattering excitedly, voicing their opinions so rapidly and at the same time that Makoto couldn't follow who was speaking. They were everything from, 'tell her I love you', 'tell her the truth', 'tell her you want her', 'disconnect and don't talk to her,' and more. Makoto decided to just play it safe and say something . . . basic.

Cherrypielover: Hi! I'm here. How are you?

Once Makoto hit send, everyone got so quiet that the only sound heard in the room was the quiet whirring sound from the fan inside Makoto's computer. There was a long dramatic pause as Ami, on the other end, typed her reply.

PBJ1978: Terrible. Remember the girl I was telling you about? The only one who would ever give you a run for your money? The straight, unobtainable one? She came up to me after I was through talking to you at the concert and expressed her undying love for me. It only took her fifteen years to do it. Didn't she care how that would make me feel? Didn't she realize that after all this time it was better for her not to hurt me like this and just let me be? I wanted you to know that I chose you over her. In the interest of fairness, you were brave enough to ask me first and I get the feeling you would never hurt me like that.

Makoto frowned as everyone leaning over her cringed. Rei said quietly, "Ouch."

The only light in Ami's small room was coming from her computer monitor. Beside her in a chair from the kitchen table sat Minako. Minako looked at Ami after she hit send. Unlike Ami, Minako now knew who pielover was. "Ouch . . . Ami, I know you're upset, but don't you think you're being just a little melodramatic about Makoto? I mean, at least she finally -- "

Ami held up a finger at Minako and said quietly, "You stay out of this. You're lucky I'm even letting you stay in here while I talk to her. And I would appreciate it if you not finish that sentence."

Cherrypielover: That was awfully sweet of you to do . . . but if she has felt that way about you for so long, maybe you should consider giving her a chance instead . . .

Haruka began saying, "No no no no! Don't send that!" just a second too late for Makoto to hit the delete button. Dead silence reined supreme in Kino's bedroom once again as everyone held their breath waiting for the next response.

PBJ1978: I'd rather be with you now. She had her chance and she blew it. Now you deserve one. You deserve to have me all to yourself without worrying about such things. It's only fair, and it's the right thing to do. Besides . . . I want you.

Haruka made a quiet cat whistling sound, getting smacked on the back of the head by both Michiru and Setsuna. Ignoring them both, she said as she grabbed the back of Makoto's chair shaking it a bit, "She _wants_ you, Makoto!"

PBJ1978: We should start planning our date for Saturday.

Makoto thought to herself how very much like Ami it was for her to get to the point. How on earth hadn't she realized who PBJ was sooner? "OK . . . obviously she's made up her mind what she wants to do . . . so, now or never time, guys . . . Should we give Saturday a try?" After receiving a chorus of yeses, Makoto typed:

Cherrypielover: Sure thing. So, what did you have in mind?

PBJ1978: I hate to say this, but my roommate is insisting on reading over my shoulder . . . it makes it a little strange to discuss. But she suggests C'zon Ebisu. It's a little expensive. OK, it's extremely expensive, but it's romantic. Dancing, live music, great food . . . I think she may be on to something, even if she is disrespecting my privacy, personal space, and all-around being irritating.

Makoto laughed quietly to herself, both because she knew the last part was more directed to Minako than her, and because she knew the feeling at the moment. Looking over her shoulder, she said nervously, "You guys are footing the bill still, right?"

Mamoru grumbled under his breath, "I'm going to kill Minako the next time I see her. Yeah, Makoto, we'll buy."

Cherrypielover: Sounds good to me! I know we planned on 8:30 PM, but how about we push it back to around 7 to give us more time?

Rei said quietly, "Yeah . . . maybe allow you to . . . you know . . . argue a while before you actually get around to _enjoying_ your date . . . if she stays that long . . . "

Michiru whispered something into Makoto's ear, then Makoto typed out,

Cherrypielover: Hey, you were at the concert tonight, so I know you know who Michiru and Haruka are. They happen to be good friends of mine. How about we double date?

Haruka said quietly, pointing at Michiru, "That is so coming out of your share of the spending money."

"But honey, it's to make sure everything goes OK. Surely you understand someone should go to make sure everything turns out alright."

PBJ1978: Yeah . . . more time to get to know each other would be good. You know them too? Wow, that's a coincidence. I've known those two for years. They got me discount tickets to the concert. I couldn't have afforded the good seats I had otherwise. Yeah, sure it's OK if they come along . . . I guess they'll find out about us eventually anyway, now that my roommate knows.

Minako said excitedly and loudly into Ami's ear, "Woo hoo! Hey, how about we all just go? That'd be a blast! We could--"

Normally she would have ignored the comment, but instead, Ami said quietly, not mincing any words with her roommate, "Be quiet, Minako."

Cherrypielover: How about I have them come by and pick you up and then I can take you home?

Ami suddenly swiveled in her chair to look at Minako, her glasses giving the small bluenette an overly serious look. "Minako-chan? I know you're happy for me and all . . . but how about you leave and let me say goodnight to my girlfriend, OK?"

"OK, but might I suggest -- "

"Get out, Minako."

Ami waited until Minako had walked out of the room before typing the rest of what she was thinking.

PBJ1978: Sounds good. However, maybe you could stay with me instead of going home?

Every jaw in Makoto's room dropped, except for Hotaru's. She didn't quite catch the meaning of Ami's comment. Rei gulped down a breath of air loudly, and said, "Wow . . . she wants to move kinda . . . fast, doesn't she?"

Cherrypielover/blushes Sure thing.

Feeling that they had at least for the moment solved the problem, Setsuna calmly left the room since the rest of the conversation really didn't pertain to them after that point.

PBJ1978: You know what the first thing I want to do when we get there is?

"OKAY! Hotaru, time to go!" Haruka said loudly, pushing her adopted daughter out of the room as she protested.

Michiru leaned over Makoto's shoulder as Ami sent more messages. Messages that caused Makoto to blush so much, even her ears turned a dark red. Usagi was so shocked by some of the things she had read before Mamoru pulled her away that her eyes were still wide open even after she was guided out to the living room in a daze.

Michiru said quietly, "I think I'll stick around just a little more. I don't know from what she is saying whether or not she has actually been with someone, but she sounds like she is trying to release a lot of held-up desire." As another message appeared, she added, "She could be using her extensive knowledge of human anatomy, after all . . . and who knew Ami-chan could be so . . . wow . . . imaginative?"

Makoto and 'PBJ' had had a few conversations along these lines before, mostly when one of them was feeling a little . . . needing at the moment, since it was the closest they could come to being intimate. Makoto said out the side of her mouth, quietly, as her eyes opened wide when she read the next message to cross the screen, "You really would be surprised, Michiru."

Haruka said from out in the living room, while Hotaru, who hadn't quite caught on to why she had been suddenly removed from what she felt was legitimate Senshi affairs was busy protesting, "Mich! We're leaving!"

Michiru grumbled to herself, "Fine, fine! All right! Be right there!" and left Makoto, who finally looked up from the screen to stare at Rei, who hadn't moved an inch yet.

"Rei? You mind?!" Makoto said, her face still beet red in embarrassment.

Rei, still in shock as yet another message chimed onto the screen, blinked her violet eyes twice then said, "Oh yeah! Um, OK . . . " As she walked off, Makoto heard the Senshi of fire say to herself, "Wonder if Ami is really that flexible?" Then, back to Makoto she said, "Hey, why don't you let us know how that goes, kay?"

As Makoto sat in front of her desk with her hands covering her face as Ami typed out another . . . descriptive text, she said quietly to the now-retreating Rei, "Just shut up and close the door on your way out, won't you?"

Yes. The girl could be very shocking when she wanted to be.


	8. Chapter 8: The Date

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 8: The Date**

Minako looked grim as she watched her 'computer simulation' of Ami and Makoto. She had booted up The Sims on her computer and had built Makoto's apartment in as much detail as the game allowed and made Ami, a female Virgo, and Makoto, a female Sagittarius, then put them in the house. The results were less than promising.

Minako had already had them both die during an earlier simulation when Makoto had tried to cook something on the stove, causing a fire. Now that she had at least managed to keep them alive longer than five minutes, she watched in dismay as the two got into an argument, and then a fight.

When her phone rang, she was glad for the diversion, though she still sounded glum as she answered it. "Hello . . . Oh, hi, Rei. Any luck with the sacred fire?" Minako scrunched up her face at the other's answer. "That bad, huh? I suppose there is always the chance you're wrong . . . yeah . . . yeah . . . Well, my exacting simulation results are . . . well, slightly better than your reading, I think."

"Yeah yeah, I know. It sucks that Mako-chan has to work today. We only have til this evening to make certain this will work . . . You're still going to meet her after she gets off, right? Cool . . . Yeah I know, no pressure."

Rei chattered to Minako again for a moment then she said, "Yeah . . . She's still having problems with her dreams. She calls them night terrors." Minako shuddered at the memory of Ami's terrified screaming the night before. "I feel sorry for her, but at the same time, makes it hard to sleep some nights, ya know? I hope it doesn't affect things tonight."

Then Minako's expression changed to one of shock then amusement as Rei said something to her over the phone for a while. "Wow . . . yeah . . . Oh my gosh . . . No . . . Bwahaha! . . . Ha ha ha! . . . She didn't . . . Oh my lord . . . Well that one was creative . . . I knew I should have stayed in there a little longer when she was trying to shoo me out . . . Yeah I know! Wonder if that last one will hurt her back, right?"

Then she looked serious as she watched her digital Ami slap digital Makoto. "Sad thing is, if we screw this up again tonight, they won't get the chance to find out, will they? Well, I'm going to go for now . . . yep . . . yep . . . later," then she hung up.

Holding her head up with one hand as she watched digital Makoto scream at digital Ami for using the shower while she wanted to, Minako thought about her job in what her and Rei were calling Operation Thunder Snow Take Two. She had it pretty easy. First, while Ami worked on the test papers she still needed to grade, Minako had to pick out flowers for the two of them to give each other on their date. Since Ami was busy trying to get some of her work done for her lessons, she had told Minako it was OK for her to choose. Makoto would have picked out the ones to give to Ami herself, but as mentioned above, she had to work. Besides, this was the part that Minako had to pay for anyway. If she was lucky she would find two bouquets that looked fabulous, and just happened to be on the cheaper side. If she couldn't find anything cheap though, she was willing to spend a bit of money to make sure at least her end of the deal came through, if nothing else.

After that, she and Ami were going to go shopping for a dress for Ami. Ami bought new clothing far less than the rest of them did, so this would be fun. It'd be like playing dress up with a little kid, only with higher stakes, and a woman who, in Minako's mind at least, didn't always have the best fashion sense. It wasn't that Ami's taste in clothing was ugly to Minako. It was just . . . kinda boring. She tended to buy fairly conservative clothing that would last a long time instead of something a little more . . . showy.

Then came the really hard part -- getting Ami into a hair salon to do something special with her hair. Ami had worn her hair virtually the same since the first day any of them had known her. She didn't even do something special with it for Usagi's wedding, even though she had been the maid of honor. That part was going to be like pulling teeth. Minako still wasn't sure how she was going to get Ami to go through with it.

* * *

Hotaru selected a wrench out of the tool box and handed it down to Haruka as she slid back under the car. She spoke rapidly to Haruka, trying to sort things out. "I just don't get it, Haruka Papa. They love each other a lot. Ami should have fallen right into Makoto's arms without a second thought when she talked to her Thursday. Instead, she pretty much dumped her long-time unrequited love when she finally tells her, for a person online. Sure, it's still Makoto and Ami doesn't know it . . . but why did she do that? I mean, Ami loves Makoto. I'm even more confused now that you told me she told Michiru Mama more than three years ago. And why won't Makoto just go over and say, 'Hey! Its me!' Wouldn't that make things easier? I just figure . . . I just don't get it," she finished with a huff of frustration.

Haruka made an adjustment and said from under the car, "Neither do I, but it doesn't bother me. Hotaru, love between two people is complicated, especially for people like Ami and Makoto. Ami is an incredibly intelligent person, yet under the surface she has a surprising amount of emotion even if she doesn't always show or act on it. Makoto is tough on the outside because she had to be for so long after her parents died. On the inside, though, she is perhaps more delicate than Ami. Throw the fact that Ami has recently been put on an emotional roller coaster, and it shouldn't surprise any of us that she isn't able to think straight, and is taking poor Makoto on one twisty ride." Then Haruka said, "Hand me the pliers, will ya?"

Her daughter did as she was told, then Haruka continued. "The reason we are going to try to help them get together is because their both stubborn individuals when they want to be. Sometimes people just need a little . . . " She stopped speaking for a moment as she strained while twisting a particularly tight bolt before finishing, " . . . push in the right direction. Understand?"

Hotaru looked down at her Papa as she slid out from under the car and answered, "No."

As Haruka wiped her hands off with a rag and stood up she said, "Then we are on the same page. At some point you just gotta understand that you won't ever understand why people do some of the things they do. And people can be even more confusing when they are in love. Remind me to tell you about how me and your Michiru Mama got together sometime." Looking back at the car, she said, "Well that's that. Guess you get to go help Michiru Mama pick out a dress for tonight."

Then Haruka headed to the piano to practice a song Minako had recommended. The blonde didn't even give Haruka sheet music to go by, just a recording of the song and asked Haruka to learn it in about a day. It was in English, so she didn't understand most of it. However, she had been assured that Ami would recognize the song as soon as Haruka started to play it.

* * *

Rei said angrily to Makoto as the taller woman tried to jerk her head away again, "If you would hold still it wouldn't hurt so much!"

The Senshi of fire was helping Makoto get ready for her date. Since they had to start later in the day, they wouldn't have time to go out and get her hair done or buy a new dress like Ami. They would have to make do with what they had on hand at Makoto's apartment. The two were surrounded by brushes, combs, a curling iron, a few boxes of hair clips, and two blow-dryers in Makoto's bedroom as Rei worked. Rei was getting frustrated with Makoto's hair because it wouldn't do what she wanted it to, thus causing her to lose her temper and use angry yanking motions occasionally to vent some frustration. Of course, this earned Rei an earful from Makoto every time she did that, which in Rei's mind was just making the process longer.

"How can I hold still when you keep ripping my hair out?!?" Makoto yelled back angrily.

"Two or three more yanks and I'll be done, so just tolerate it!"

Rei quietly finished brushing Makoto's hair without interruption from Makoto, though the latter gritted her teeth a few times as Rei, true to her word, gave a few more yanks on another knot. Then Rei quickly put Makoto's hair in a simple braided ponytail. The look was simple, and because Makoto usually wore her hair unbraided it made her look almost like a different person to Rei. "Well, on the plus side, once we put some makeup on you, she may actually believe you to be a different person at first." said Rei as she held up the mirror. She hoped Makoto liked the style, because it was their fifth attempt at a different style and Makoto seemed like she was about to run screaming whenever Rei picked up a brush at this point.

Makoto, for her part, turned her head from side to side, watching the new tightly woven ponytail sway back and forth as she did. It was a bit longer than she thought it would be. Sounding a little uncertain, she said, "I don't know, you don't think its too . . . simple do you?"

Rei felt her eyebrow twitch involuntarily at the comment as a feeling of frustration with the brunette pulsed through her blood. "At this point, I would have thought you would feel simple was a good thing! Don't tell me you want to try the curls again!" Makoto had originally wanted her hair curled, and had suggested a style that was too complex for Rei's abilities. The Miko had gone so overboard with curling Makoto's hair that when she had finished Makoto's hair looked like a perfect sphere of curls, kinda like a clown with brown hair.

Makoto held up her hands as if defending herself from Rei. "No! Anything but the curls! This'll work for me!" Then, a little worried again, she said, "I just want Ami to like it, I guess. I'm just nervous, Rei. I think I'd have been less nervous at this point not knowing the woman I was dating was Ami. I've wanted her for so long . . . You think we're doing the right thing?"

Rei said, with a reassuring smile on her face, "We wouldn't be trying to help you if we didn't."

Makoto quietly looked at the picture of her parents for a moment. She kept the picture on her nightstand. "It's been so long since I saw them that I don't remember their voices anymore. I honestly don't even know how they would feel about me doing this, Rei. I like to think that compared to some of the men I've dated over the years, they would see Ami as a diamond in the rough. It's silly to think about them at a time like this, but I wonder if they would be proud of me, or . . . embarrassed."

Rei watched Makoto sadly for awhile as thoughts of her own mother went through her mind. Rei had often wondered at times like graduations, or when they had accomplished something as Sailor Senshi, or even on little things like when she passed a hard test, or learned to drive, what her mother would have said. It pained her to know that she would never know and somehow hurt just a little more to know that Makoto understood that feeling even more than she herself did.

Putting a hand on the tall woman's shoulder she said quietly, both to herself and to Makoto, "For what it's worth, I think they would have been proud of you."

Makoto looked at the picture a moment more, then said quietly, holding back tears, "Thanks, Rei."

Losing her parents at such a young age was something Makoto still cried about, usually when no one was around. She felt it was both silly and pathetic that after twenty years it still hurt as much as it did, and occasionally got mad at herself for what she perceived as weakness. Rei was the only one of her friends she talked about it with and it somehow helped her to know Rei felt the same way about her mother.

Taking a breath to clear her mind, Makoto perked up a bit and said excitedly, "OK. Time to pick out a dress!" She jumped up and practically ran the short distance to her closet, throwing open the doors once she reached it. Granted, Makoto didn't dress like a guy as Haruka did, but as Rei looked at the array of dresses within the closet it surprised her that a tomboy like Makoto would have so many. She seemed to have more styles than a department store and more colors than the rainbow. Indeed, a rainbow was what they looked like since Makoto had them arranged by color. No wonder she wasn't disappointed about not having to buy one, she still had ones in her closet she hadn't worn other than to try on! Half of them still had the tags on them, for Pete's sake!

Rei said quietly, still in awe of the sight, "How about something white?"

Makoto then pushed several of the dresses aside to reveal the white dresses to which Makoto said only half jokingly, "Bright white, or off white?" She then pulled out ten different dresses that Rei assumed were her favorites of the bunch.

This was going to take even longer than her hair, was Rei's thought. She hoped the makeup portion of this adventure would be short, otherwise they were going to be late for sure!

* * *

Ami had won her argument with Minako earlier in the day about which dress to wear. She had told Cherrypielover that she was going to wear the same dress she had worn during the concert so she would be able to see it. However, she had lost the argument over her hair. She had been dragged, nearly kicking and screaming, into the salon and was forced for the first time since she had hair to wear it differently. Surprisingly, Ami liked what they had done with it.

The stylist took pity on Ami and listened to her instead of Minako who had made several suggestions that Ami had felt were . . . extreme. All she did was add silver highlights to her hair, curled her bangs a little, and added blue glitter to make her stand out a bit more. Ami felt the silver highlights made her look a little older than her usual appearance, which was fine since she didn't want Cherry to think she had lied about her age. She also hoped the glitter, which had been the only suggestion of Minako's to make it into her appearance for the evening, made her look a little more fun loving.

She was now walking down the street to the C'zon Ebisu with Haruka, who was wearing a nice black tux, and Michiru, who was wearing a simple evening gown that matched her aqua colored hair. Once they reached it, she asked shyly, "Do you think she'll show up?"

Haruka nearly laughed. "You betcha. Why, we spoke to her last night, as a matter of fact. She is so excited I bet she is already here." Then Haruka and Michiru both looked in through a window in the front of the building to find Makoto.

After a few moments Ami asked nervously, "Do you see her?"

Just as she finished saying that, Haruka grabbed Michiru's arm gently, and said, pointing with her other hand, "Oh! There she is . . . wow . . . check out those legs, Michiru."

Michiru smiled slightly then moved closer to Haruka so that Ami couldn't see through the window, saying, "And what about the way that dress accents every curve of her body, Haruka? Why, I'm liable to sleep with her myself."

Makoto was sitting at a table within view of the window. Michiru nearly laughed when she saw a waiter bring her a small glass of wine, which the nervous Makoto downed in one gulp, coughing presumably delicately into one of her hands after swallowing it. Michiru couldn't help but think that the poor dear must be a nervous wreck.

For once, Haruka got to say it. "Only place you'll be sleeping if you make a comment like that again is the couch, sweetheart." Then, with an even bigger smile, she said, "Check out that bust! I envy you, Ami."

Ami, for her part, was standing behind the two blushing profusely, but still asked, "Can you move over so I can see?"

Haruka said teasingly, as she pushed Ami away with one hand without taking her eyes away from the window, "No way! Get your own window."

Michiru said, "Come on, Ruka. Let's introduce Ami to her date." Then they both turned around and each grabbed one of Ami's shoulders, moving her away from the window so that she couldn't see, and continued toward the front door.

Ami stopped, standing right in the doorway, and said out loud, suddenly sounding scared, "I can't do this."

Haruka actually felt her temper rise a bit at those words. Then she remembered her own words to Hotaru earlier that day. Out loud she said, "Sorry Ami, but for your own good, you're going through with this. The woman you're meeting happens to be a good friend of mine and I won't have you breaking her heart tonight. You're going to walk in there," Haruka pushed Ami, forcing the short woman to have to walk forward or be pushed over, "you're going to have a wonderful evening, and you can thank us later."

Ami dug her heels in the ground a bit, making a quiet screeching sound as Haruka pushed her forward. "No, you don't understand! I . . . I can't!"

Michiru put a hand on Haruka's shoulder to silently tell her to stop for a moment. "Why not?" she asked simply.

Ami stuttered for a moment, trying to think how to put to words what she was thinking in her brain. "Ma . . . Makoto. I was terrible to her. I know it would be mean and unfair to Cherry to back out now, but I . . ."

Haruka cut her off, but didn't sound angry. "OK, Ami, I'll tell you what. You go through with this and give 'Cherry' a chance. If you don't like her afterward, I'll let her down easy for you and you can pursue Makoto with a clean conscience. That way everyone wins, all right?"

Ami thought about taking the moment to try to run out the door, but noticed Michiru was standing so she would have to knock her down to do that. Realizing the two of them were not going to back down from this, Ami sighed quietly, "All right."

Haruka checked them in, then she and her lover showed Ami to their seat. The restaurant was spacious, with tables arranged around a dance floor and a large grand piano off to the side. Ami's had a white rose waiting for her, but there was no sign of her date. She sat down quietly, thinking maybe the woman had gotten cold feet and left at the last moment. That would make her life a little easier, even if it meant she had wasted three months of her life talking to her online.

Haruka said as Ami sat down, "Huh. Guess she needed to take a moment to put on some makeup or something." Ami didn't know it, but this was actually part of the plan.

Michiru sat down opposite of Ami and said, "Haruka, why don't you go play a song on the piano over there while we wait for Ami's date to get back?"

Haruka said, sounding as if it were something she had rehearsed so many times she was sick of repeating it, "That's a great idea, Michiru."

Ami noticed the tone in Haruka's voice and realized they were hiding something. As she twirled the bouquet of blue lilies she had brought for her date nervously in her hands, she said, barely above a whisper, as Haruka sat down behind the piano, "What are you two up to?"

Michiru heard Ami's rhetorical question and said with a smile on her face, "Oh, nothing at all, Ami. You're so suspicious all the time. Just relax a bit and enjoy the music, won't you?"

Haruka quietly tapped the pianist's shoulder and asked if she could borrow the piano for a moment. Ami didn't know it, but the pianist who worked here was a friend of Haruka's. Once Haruka sat down at the piano and started playing, Ami recognized the melody after only a few notes. It was a song that Minako had on CD, only set to a slower more romantic speed and tone by the talented Haruka. It was an American song Ami was particularly fond of because it reminded her of Makoto every time she heard it. As the opening stanza was played, Michiru got up and walked over to Haruka and pulled out her violin which had been hidden behind the piano playing her parts to the tune. As the song got to the part with singing, Ami couldn't figure out how they knew about the song to begin with, but decided to just enjoy the moment and sung along to herself in English with a thick Japanese accent. She couldn't speak English as good as Minako. German was her specialty in foreign languages. But she understood and knew how to speak enough words to sing part of Train's _Drops of Jupiter_.

She stopped singing abruptly, when she noticed a tall woman with brownish red hair tied in a beautiful yet simple ponytail and an elegant white dress with a seductive slit up the right leg, seeming to glide toward her from across the room like an angel. There was something familiar about her, but at first Ami couldn't place it because she was so mesmerized by the other woman's beauty. She had the most beautiful green eyes Ami had ever seen. Ami watched as the tall woman sat down next to her, and felt her heart racing and pounding against her ribs. She had been expecting someone else to the point that she actually didn't recognize Makoto . . . until she spoke.

Putting her hands over Ami's, which still griped the bouquet of lilies meant for her date, Makoto said quietly, "PBJ. . . Now I know what that stands for. I thought it was your initials for a long time. But it stands for Peanut Butter and Jelly, am I right?"

Ami was so surprised to hear Makoto's voice, and her eyes showed it. She blinked a few times, feeling Makoto's surprisingly soft hands on hers, not comprehending for a moment that the other woman had spoken. She said dumbly, "Makoto? Cherry? You're Cherrypielover?" At first Ami was too surprised to feel anything. Then she said with just the slightest edge of anger in her voice, "You . . . all tricked me. How many of you are in on this?"

She didn't get up, which, at this point, Makoto took as a good sign since she hadn't expected Ami to even waste a single word once she realized what was going on. Trying to stay confident, Makoto said, "I tried to tell you at the concert. I realized it once you stopped chatting with me, and once I saw you in the lobby, I . . . well you know the rest. Just . . . give me a chance this time, OK? That's all I want. One chance, then even if you turn me down cold after that," Makoto smiled a bit, "I can be happy."

Ami looked at Makoto as the other woman looked down at the table with a defeated look on her face and realized just how cruel she had been. So cruel that she didn't expect a shred of a chance. Ami put the lilies on the table and held Makoto's hands gently, then said, echoing the words she had said nearly fourteen years ago, "You don't look so cheerful, Mako-chan."

Makoto looked at Ami for a moment, astonished to see the smaller woman had a happy smile on her face. She responded with a memory of a moment that was faded like an old photograph, rough around the edges from being handled so many times. "Oh? When you're tall like me, nobody asks you for a dance."

Ami squeezed Makoto's hands gently, then said confidently, "Can I ask you for a dance?"

Makoto, rising to her feet and gently pulling Ami to hers, said happily yet simply, "Sure." and led the small bluenette to the dance floor as Haruka and Michiru continued to play their music as the two danced for the first time in over a decade, and for the first time being honest with each other about their true feelings.

The two danced for what seemed like hours, as if they were little bits of confetti flying and twirling around the dance floor. In reality they had only danced for three songs before making their way back to there table. Haruka and Michiru were already sitting there by this time. Haruka had handed the piano back to the restaurant's usual pianist at the end of the first song to dance with Michiru for a song, then they decided to watch from their table while the other two danced. Haruka was too busy looking at the menu and hoping she had remembered to bring her credit card to notice that Ami and Makoto had returned.

Michiru said politely, "Welcome back. You two look good together . . . right Ruka?" she said, elbowing Haruka in the ribs to get her to stop looking at the menu with a mortified expression and acknowledge their friends' return.

Haruka put down the menu then put a hand on the back of her head, a little embarrassed, saying, "Oh yeah! Two peas in a pod, those two." Then, to Michiru, she said quietly, "Uh . . . You were planning on eating light, right?" Then so quietly it was almost inaudible, "Thank god we didn't bring Usagi."

As Haruka and Michiru decided what they were going to order, Ami and Makoto had quietly sat down and started looking at the menu themselves. Makoto was instantly glad Usagi and Mamoru were paying for dinner when she looked at the prices. Even still, Makoto was too busy suffering from sticker shock to notice that Ami had edged closer to her in the booth while looking at their menus until she felt Ami's hip gently touch hers. Makoto looked at Ami casually to see her expression. Ami was just reading her menu innocently. Makoto found it amusing that now that Ami suddenly didn't have to hide her feelings, she was just as big a tease in person as she was online.

Once their waiter came and got their orders, Michiru said quietly, "I'm going to head to the ladies' room to check my makeup. Care to join me, Ami?"

Ami looked quietly at Makoto for a moment, then nodded to Michiru and the two walked off.

"It's dangerous letting the two of them go off alone like that, you know," said Haruka to Makoto as she watched the two enter the women's restroom. "They're going to compare us to each other and wind up discussing stuff they don't want us to hear." Then she sighed quietly, ending her gripe with, "I hate it when she does this."

Makoto smiled at Haruka and said "What's the matter? Scared you won't measure up?"

Haruka said, "To you? Nah! It's just . . . " She stopped talking when Michiru came back to the table and whispered something to Makoto. Then she sat down calmly next to Haruka while Makoto got up and headed to the ladies room, trying not to look like she was in a hurry.

Haruka looked over at Michiru, raising an eyebrow with a look that said, All right, now what?

Michiru explained to Haruka, "It's Ami. We walked in and had just started talking when she looked at the mirror and just froze. At first I thought it was something I said, but when she didn't move I decided to send Makoto in to talk to her."

Haruka looked concerned, saying, "Do you think we should help? Or is this one of those let them handle it type of things?"

Michiru said quietly, "The latter. I think Ami still has some issues to deal with from her abduction. Maybe Makoto can help her."

Makoto opened the door to the bathroom to see Ami leaning over the counter, staring at her reflection in the mirror with an expression that was either fear, anger, or both. She walked over to Ami, quietly placing a hand on her shoulder, saying, "Hey, you all right?" Ami didn't answer. She just kept staring at the mirror like she was expecting to be attacked. Makoto said worriedly as she put the pieces together, "That's why the mirror was broken when they found your impostor in your apartment."

Ami nodded, then said, sounding scared, "She jumped through it. I'm not sure how the others got here, but Amy . . . Ever since then . . . I . . . haven't felt safe." she said quietly, trying not to say what she was thinking. "I can handle this on my own." Makoto couldn't help but think Ami didn't sound like she meant that.

Still keeping her hand on Ami's shoulder, Makoto gave it a gentle squeeze. "No, Ami. We're together now. If you have a problem it's my problem. Come on, talk to me."

Ami laughed, but it was a nervous one with no humor in it. Not taking her gaze from her reflection, she said, "It's silly. I just feel . . . like I have to constantly watch my back. Like even when I am with my friends, even with you, like I'm in danger. I have nightmares about it, did you know that?"

Makoto looked into the eyes of Ami's reflection until she saw Ami's reflection look back. Then Makoto said quietly, "Yes I know. You don't have to be ashamed of being scared Ami. None of us are holding it against you."

After a few more moments, Makoto put her hands on Ami's shoulders and gently turned her around so she was facing her. Remembering her promise to Hana, Makoto said, "We are all behind you Ami. We can help you. I can help you. Just give us time." Then, as she slowly pulled Ami back toward the door she said, "Come on, let's go enjoy the rest of our night. We can deal with this later, together."

Ami quietly followed Makoto out of the room, and the two joined Michiru and Haruka back at the table just in time to get their food. Ami looked a little embarrassed but with some encouragement from the others at the table, she started to enjoy herself again. She wasn't about to let anything ruin the rest of her night.

After dinner and a few more dances, the four decided it was time to part ways for the evening. As they walked, Haruka said to Michiru, "Poor Makoto. She is going to have her hands full with Ami for a while, I think. Don't get me wrong, I like Ami. But I've said it once and I'll say it again. That woman is on one hell of an emotional roller coaster."

Michiru shrugged and said, "That may be, but at least Ami won't be on that terrifying ride alone anymore. There have been times when _you _have gone on one of those too, you know. If it weren't for me, I don't know how you would have gotten through some of them." Haruka laughed quietly in denial as the two headed home.

* * *

On their way back to Ami's apartment, Ami and Makoto decided to go for a romantic walk in a park. Granted, this course of action would not normally be advisable in a large city in the middle of the night, but the two felt that two Senshi could easily deal with a mugger if they ran into one. Besides, it would be a shame to waste such a beautiful spring night. The temperature was perfect, the sky was clear with a blanket of stars, and the moon was full, casting a soft light over Tokyo that night.

The two walked silently down the path, holding hands and saying nothing, just enjoying the moment. Both were lost in their own thoughts as well. When they reached a wooden bridge that went over a small man-made river in the park that was full of koi, Ami stopped and looked over a railing at the fish. Makoto looked over for a moment too, and noticed the koi begging for food, and the moon causing the two of them to look like ripply silhouettes on the water. Then after a few moments, Makoto watched Ami and noticed the other had a small happy smile on her face.

She had told Ami this before at the concert, but she felt now was a good time to say it again. "I love you, Ami."

Unfortunately for poor Makoto, the response she got was, once again, not the one she wanted nor expected.

Ami looked at her with a slight expression of irritation, and said, "No, you don't. You want me, you're infatuated with me, and you like me, but love takes time to develop, Makoto."

This time, Makoto couldn't keep the frustration with her blue-eyed companion out of her voice. "What? Ever hear of a little thing called love at first sight?" She sighed angrily thinking to herself that sometimes she wished Ami wasn't so calculating with everything, even with her emotions.

Ami responded, "You have always been quick to fall for anyone who resembles your old sempai. What you felt for them can't have been love at first sight and it can't be what you feel for me now. You're twenty-nine years old now, Makoto. Maybe it's time you learned the difference."

Makoto said angrily, "What makes you think it can't be love? Maybe you're wrong and I _do _know the difference now!"

Now, Ami spoke in a quiet, angry voice. "Because if it were, you would have said something fifteen years ago."

Ami started to say something to Makoto again, but now Makoto wasn't listening. As the blue haired girl continued to lecture her, Makoto thought to herself that she was sure of how she felt about Ami. If Ami wasn't going to admit it and needed time to say the words back to her, Makoto could wait. So, as the blue haired woman continued on her tirade, Makoto said again, not caring whether Ami even heard her this time or not, "I love you, Ami."

Then, as Ami was half way through another sentence in her angry frustrated lecture about human emotion and psychology, Makoto pulled her close, suddenly covering Ami's mouth with hers as she gave her short companion a long, deep, passionate kiss.

Ami cut off her words with a sudden surprised, "Mmmph!" She went stiff for a moment, too surprised to do anything as Makoto continued to kiss her. Finally, Ami returned the kiss to Makoto before she could pull away, wrapping her arms around the taller woman's slim waist as the moon and the koi continued to be the only ones there to witness their first kiss.

**Authors note: In Japan, Koi are considered good luck.**


	9. Chapter 9: Knowledge of Desire

**Authors Note: Special thanks go out to Naeryn. She sent a simple suggestion of using Tai Chi, which turned out to be a huge help for this chapter, since inspiration had completely left me at the time.**

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 9: Knowledge of Desire**

Ami awoke in the middle of the night, suddenly taking in a shuddering breath as fear once again gripped her heart for seemingly no reason. At least this time she didn't scream. She wasn't even aware of what the dream was. It was as if she had just suddenly felt a feeling of intense fear slam into her without warning, hard enough to wake her up, and then it was gone just as quickly. She sat up in bed breathing in and then out, trying to calm her racing heart and the surge of adrenalin she could still feel flowing through her.

She lay back down again, staring up at the ceiling. Why couldn't she have pleasant dreams, like ones of her new girlfriend? Ami wasn't ready to give in to some of her urges and desires just yet, but she wished she could be honest with herself, at least in her dreams. She had had dreams about Makoto in the past, but none over the last week or so, since her nights were plagued by nightmares.

Ami had felt they would have been rushing things by even sleeping in the same bed together on the first date, so they had changed their plan. The moment Ami had said she wanted to part ways once she got home, Ami had seen quite a bit of regret in her tall companion's eyes. However, since Makoto could see Ami's point, she relented without argument. They had kissed again in front of Ami's apartment door before bidding each other goodnight.

As she thought of Makoto, it made her stop thinking about whatever had woken her up. It also made her feel just a little stressed. Part of her was still angry at the woman for not telling her about how she felt sooner, but the more she thought about it, the quicker even those remaining feelings faded. It was safe to say Ami had forgiven the Senshi of Thunder. Most of her misgivings and frustration seamed to have just melted away as the brunette had kissed her for the first time earlier that night. That, however, wasn't what she was stressing about anymore.

She reached for the clock on the nightstand and turned it so she could see the time. Midnight. The date had gone wonderfully, but somehow, now that she was back home alone in bed, it suddenly didn't seem enough. "I can't even call her now," she said quietly.

The struggle going on within her was maddening. The logical, rational part of her mind was telling her to wait before going any farther. They had really just started dating only a few hours ago, hadn't they? It would be foolish, childish even, to rush into a relationship with anyone this quickly, wouldn't it? Even if it was Makoto, someone she had known for half her life, right? Someone she wanted? 'Shouldn't she have to earn more from you?' Ami thought.

The other part of her mind, the part that helped her to write poetry or music, kept telling her to just give in already! 'How much could it hurt just to say, 'I love you' to her at the least? Was there any harm in just spending the night with the woman, maybe even sleep in the same bed? Thats not too much to ask is it? Nothing too major, just say a simple phrase, and cuddle close to her warm body instead of sleeping in the same cold bed. You kissed her, didn't you? That _had _to mean something to you. Hasn't she earned that much at least?'

Then the rational part of her mind would fire back. 'You fool! A kiss is just a kiss! How do you know you're in love anyway? You never have been truly in love before. You have no frame of reference for it. You can't quantify, explain, or categorize it, can you? So how do you know you're in love? You can't tell her that without being able to do those things! It would be lying to her!'

As the kaleidoscope of thoughts in her mind and heart continued, she put her hands on her head for a moment and said out loud, "I don't have to decide anything tonight, do I?" She quietly got out of bed, walked to the window, and pulled up the blinds to gaze at the night sky, alone with her thoughts.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the prefecture, a familiar brunette was standing out on her balcony admiring the same night sky. Makoto had spent most of the evening since she had gotten home trying to sleep, and had finally given up hope of reaching that goal. Taking another sip of hot chocolate, she glanced at the lilies her new girlfriend had given her. Next to them was a cordless phone handset she had brought out with her. She knew Ami wouldn't call at this time of night, even if she was awake and wanted to. The sweet little bookworm was too polite for that. But she could dream, couldn't she?

As she waited futilely for the phone to ring, Makoto sighed. She didn't know it, but the thoughts she was having at that moment were similar to her new girlfriend's. Not quite, though. Makoto wasn't so worried about how she felt. She was more worried that Ami might actually be right. That Kino Makoto may not know what love truly was. Makoto also had to deal with the added thought that since she was going to be working again in the morning, she was going to pay dearly for staying up this late.

"Maybe Ami is right. Maybe I do rush things." Smiling to herself, she added, "She did kiss me back, though. Even still, I know she feels more for me than she is admitting to." Moving her cup in a circular motion and watching the hot chocolate swirl around in it, she said, "I still know I love you, though. I can wait for you to say the same. You don't have to say it, though." Smiling even more as if she knew a secret she wasn't supposed to, she said, "Your eyes give it away."

She looked at the phone one more time before downing the rest of her drink, feeling the hot liquid burn its way down her throat as she did so. "Well, Ami, I love you." Picking up the lilies and the phone, she said, almost as if Ami could hear her, "And I know you love me too. For now, that will have to do." Finally feeling sleep beckoning her, she made her way back into her apartment.

* * *

Ami and Makoto really hadn't had much of a relationship since work had kept them from meeting more often than both of them would have liked. In some ways, it might as well have been a long distance relationship for the first week. Makoto had been putting in more hours at her restaurant planning for a remodel, and Ami had been kept busy planning the rest of the school year. They did talk online, but it wasn't the same as being together.

This week, however, they had both had more time with each other, but still not as much as they would have liked. They had gotten together for lunch Tuesday and again on Thursday. Both encounters had seemed rushed, since with travel time to and from the school, Ami only had about thirty minutes.

Come hell or high water, Makoto had decided tonight would be different from their other outings. Tonight would be special. She had lit a few candles on shelves in her living room, adding a nice romantic glow. She had prepared a romantic candlelit dinner for two, and had rearranged the entire living room by moving the couch and coffee table into the kitchen to make more room. The stereo had soft piano music playing, and since the weather was nice tonight, Makoto had opened the glass door leading to the balcony to let in the fresh night air. Makoto felt the breeze that was fluttering the curtains gently, and the soft glow of moonlight from the skylight was a nice touch too. She was dressed fairly casually, wearing a new green short-sleeved shirt and blue jeans. The only thing missing was Ami.

Where was she?

Then again, the answer to that question should have been obvious. Makoto smiled to herself as she made a few last minute changes to the position of some of the candles. Almost certainly, Minako had stopped Ami to give her a few last-minute pieces of 'romantic advice'. When Makoto had told Minako what she was planning for tonight, the hyper blonde had gone on and on about suggestions for it. Everything from what music to play to what food to serve. Makoto knew her friend was trying to be helpful, but she was going to do this her way. Though, Makoto would never admit it even to herself, the candle idea had come from Minako.

As she waited for Ami to appear, she looked at a picture she had moved out to the living room. It was a picture taken during their senior year of high school, just after Ami had started wearing her glasses for more than just reading. The two of them were just talking quietly while enjoying lunch that Makoto had made for them at school. Makoto had never noticed until a few days ago how close the two of them looked in that picture. Ami was sitting on a bench, while Makoto had picked up a pair of chopsticks and was leaning over her from behind. She had picked up a piece of chicken she had made from a then-new recipe that she wanted Ami's opinion on. Ami had opened her mouth like a baby bird when Makoto had offered her the tasty little hunk of meat, and Usagi had just happened to have a camera with her at that exact moment.

Even though they didn't look much different physically from then, Makoto couldn't help but remember just how young they had been. That was a little over twelve years ago now. It wasn't the thought of being old that bothered her, but just how much time the two of them had wasted by not being honest with each other. In Makoto's mind, tonight wasn't just about another romantic evening. It was about making up for lost time. She was brought out of her thoughts by a soft knock on the entrance door.

"Ami!" Makoto said excitedly. She ran across the room to the door as a huge smile formed on her face, emerald green eyes opened wide, sparkling with happiness. She threw open the door, thrilled to once again see . . .

"May I come in? I'll only take a moment of your time," Setsuna said, bowing politely as she stood in the doorway, ignoring Makoto's expression as it quickly went from one of sheer joy to extreme disappointment. Able to see the romantically lit living room from her vantage point, she asked, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm not interrupting something, am I?"

"You're the guardian of time and destiny. You tell me," Makoto said sarcastically. Then, more politely, she said, "I've been setting up for a date with Ami, but she isn't here yet." As she ushered in her unexpected guest, she said, "Knowing you, you already knew she was late. Can I get you something to drink? Tea?"

Setsuna replied, "No, thank you. And I think all of you overestimate my knowledge of current events and the future. I am not omnipotent, after all. The very fact that there is a guardian of time is proof that the future isn't set in stone."

As Makoto flipped on the lights, she asked, trying to sound the polite hostess and not like she was impatient to get rid of Setsuna before Ami arrived, "So, what is it you wish to discuss?"

When Setsuna spoke she sounded almost as if she wasn't sure how to word what she was thinking. "I just wanted to give you some advice. In every relationship, one person needs to be more . . . assertive than the other." Setsuna stopped for a moment, trying to choose her words carefully. Once she selected what she felt were the proper words, she said, "Go at a speed you are comfortable with in your relationship with Ami, and don't be afraid to give her a little bit of a push if she needs it." Setsuna stopped speaking again as she thought to herself that this was a conversation Minako would be a lot better at having than she was. "If you need to, slow down a bit so she can catch up. But try not to let her stop."

The tall brunette smiled, saying "See? You did too know Ami wasn't going to be here when you got here." Then more seriously, she added, "Are you trying to tell me Ami is nervous about the speed of our relationship?" Sounding worried and insecure as she wrung her hands together nervously, she said, "I knew it. I'm moving too fast again, aren't I?" Looking for something other than herself to blame, she said a little angrily, "It's the candles isn't it? I told Minako they were a bit much!"

Setsuna held up a hand elegantly, cutting Makoto off before she could say more. "No. That's not what I said." Sighing quietly and pinching her eyebrow in frustration, she finished, "You're not going too fast. Try to think of it as. . . dancing. One of you needs to lead. I'm suggesting that you help Ami realize that . . . she doesn't have to be afraid of her own emotions and desires toward you. She feels just as strongly for you as you do for her. She just needs you to show her that that's . . . all right." Looking directly into Makoto's eyes, she said, almost sounding hurried, "Guide her. Show her that it's all right for her to be in love. And whatever you do, _don't_ let her leave."

Makoto closed her eyes and said, not even trying to hide her irritation, "That's easy for you to say." Opening her eyes again she said, "You know, it's easy for you to . . . Setsuna?"

She looked around the room with a look of confusion. Setsuna had disappeared. Makoto searched the bedrooms and then the bathroom. Then she walked over to the kitchen and opened the door for a moment, looking around. Nothing. Drumming her fingernails on the door frame, she said, irritated, "That was a new trick from you, you little --"

Then she heard a knock on the door again, this one sounding a little more delicate and somehow shyer than Setsuna's. This time, not wanting to get her hopes up, she walked calmly to the door and looked out through the peep hole.

Only after she saw her shy girlfriend's familiar blue hair did she allow herself to once again regain the smile she had earlier. Makoto briefly thought about how she could think about the many mysteries of Setsuna later. She rushed back to the light switch, flicked off the lights again, then skipped back to the door and opened it to let Ami in.

Ami bowed the second the door opened, without walking in, and started explaining rapidly and nervously, "I'm so sorry I'm late, Mako-chan. Minako just wouldn't stop talking! I . . . "

Makoto gently put her hand on Ami's chin, guiding her back to standing straight again. "You don't have to apologize. It gave me a little more time to work on dinner. Besides, I figured Minako was involved." Moving so she could put her hand around Ami's waist, and guiding her in, she said, "Dinner is ready, if you would like to eat."

"Yes, that would be . . ." Ami sniffed the air as they walked toward the kitchen, smelling the inviting aroma of Makoto's cooking, causing a small smile to form on her lips. "That would be delightful."

While Ami seemed to relax some at that point, she seemed to Makoto to be somewhat more nervous than the previous times they had gotten together since their relationship had begun. She couldn't help but think that there was probably more on her mind than being tardy. As Ami sat down, and Makoto put her plate in front of her, she asked, trying not to sound too concerned, "Is something bothering you, Ami?"

"No," Ami said, a little too soon after Makoto asked the question, then she said, "Well . . . Yes. It's not important though." She lifted her chopsticks and took a bite delicately, savoring the flavor of the food for a moment before swallowing. Smiling shyly, she said, "It's good."

Makoto rested her head on her hand, regarding Ami for a moment, then replied, "You know you're not going to get away without elaborating on that, right?" She took a bite of her own food and watched Ami quietly with an expression she hoped was one of curiosity.

"Well, it's just . . . I'm afraid of moving too fast. I don't want to rush things with us. My mind is telling me to take my time. My heart, and probably a liberal mix of hormones, are telling me we aren't going fast enough." Looking suddenly embarrassed, Ami said quickly, "I mean, I'm not saying we should sleep together tonight or anything like that! It's just . . ."

Looking away from Makoto, Ami finished, sounding somehow a little humiliated to admit what she said next. "I'm still a virgin." Sighing, she finished, "I know it shouldn't be, but somehow I find it embarrassing to admit that some of my students have more experience than I do in a relationship. I mean, I'm 29 years old and aside for one relationship in collage that didn't go very far at all, I have little experience with this sort of thing. Dating, I mean. "

Placing a strong yet gentle and soft hand on the hand Ami was using to hold her chopsticks, Makoto said, "You don't need to be embarrassed. You are saving yourself for someone special. I admire that." Looking disappointed in herself, Makoto admitted, "I regret giving mine up so early. Without parental guidance I suppose it was inevitable. I hope knowing that doesn't make you uncomfortable." Sighing quietly, Makoto added, "You don't need to be afraid of your feelings, Ami. You'll know when you're ready. When you are, selfish as it sounds, . . . well . . . I hope it's with me."

Makoto had thought right after she said that, that the comment would make Ami even more apprehensive. Instead, to her surprise, she could feel the tension in Ami's hand relax just a little more, but it was still there. Makoto looked into Ami's deep blue eyes, and smiled again as an idea came to her. Gently pushing the chopsticks out of Ami's hands, causing them to clatter to the plate, Makoto held Ami's hand and guided her to her feet. "Let me show you what I do to help me relax." Then she guided Ami to the candlelit living room.

She had originally rearranged the room so they could dance, but perhaps Makoto's new idea could be every bit as romantic, and possibly more so. She motioned for Ami to stand a few feet from her. "Now, I want you to try to do exactly what I do."

Makoto closed her eyes, straightened her six-foot frame perfectly straight, and breathed in deeply for a moment. Then she very slowly held her hands out straight in front of her. She made several elegant motions in a relaxed pattern, moving in a slow spin. About the time she made a motion that was similar to serving a volley ball in slow motion, she heard Ami trying unsuccessfully to suppress a giggle. She stopped moving and glared at Ami, feeling slightly irritated. At least the bookish woman had calmed down. "What? It's better than twisting yourself into a pretzel while doing that damn yoga."

Ami explained while laughing, "No, no, no! It's just, I never pictured you doing Tai Chi before. I'm used to seeing you break boards and smash bricks while practicing Karate." Smiling, she added, "It's interesting to watch you move so elegantly, is all." Watching Makoto had reminded Ami of a praying mantis, slow deliberate movements that looked elegant and precise, coming from someone who could rip your head off with a single blow. Beautiful but deadly.

Feeling that description, while accurate, would sound harsher than she would have meant it to, Ami instead said, "You reminded me of . . . a tree while doing that. Usually I see you being like the wooden part, strong and defensive. Watching you do Tai Chi however, reminds me of the tree's leaves, gently rustling in the wind, and in the fall, falling elegantly to the ground. I guess it shouldn't surprise me so much since that describes you perfectly. You're tough, yet gentle and kind. Powerful, yet elegant. I didn't mean to laugh, it's just not what I was expecting. I should have, though." Then she said, sounding a little embarrassed, as blood rushed to her cheeks, turning them a light pink color, "I stopped a few motions in when I started to lose my balance. It looks easy, but it's a lot harder to do than you make it appear."

The brunette looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then in mock exasperation, asked no one in particular, "She thinks I look like a tree?" Then, Makoto smiled again when she saw Ami's face turn a darker pink. 'She is so cute when she does that,' was her thought to herself as she looked at Ami for a few more seconds. Before the other could stammer out an apology, Makoto said, "Here, I'll help you."

As Makoto repositioned herself behind Ami, she whispered, "Close your eyes . . . now, take a deep breath through your nose, then slowly let it out through your mouth." When Makoto heard Ami exhale, she could feel most of the remaining tension leave. She put a hand at the small of her short partner's back, and another on her shoulder, then gently straightened her back just a touch, so she had the correct posture.

"Now," Makoto said as she pressed herself against Ami's back, holding both of Ami's hands to her sides gently. She felt Ami tense up again for a second, apparently surprised by the sudden contact all the way down the back of her body. Not a nervous type of tension, though. "I want you to use just enough strength to move with me. The emphasis isn't on strength in Tai Chi, it's on motion and balance." Makoto placed her feet beside Ami's so she could guide them better. It would make things a little difficult on her end, but she felt it would help Ami a bit more this way. "Ready?" Ami nodded slowly as she listened to her instructor finish her explanation.

Makoto moved slower than she had the first time, both because of her own modified position, and because she felt it would allow Ami to keep up better. She guided Ami's hands through several gentle, graceful motions, then started guiding her to move in a circle. Makoto felt Ami's spine arch a bit, so she placed a hand on Ami's stomach and another on her shoulder, gently helping her to straighten her spine again. "Keep your back straight. It'll help with your balance."

During this, Ami could feel her heart banging against the inside of her ribs. She wondered for a bit if she was nervous, but decided that didn't accurately describe how she felt. The feeling of being this close to someone was an entirely new experience for her. It was even closer than when they had kissed both times two weeks ago. Though it wasn't an unpleasant experience. Truth be told, Ami enjoyed it. She could feel Makoto's chest moving against her own shoulder blades as the other breathed, feel her hands griping hers gently, and her muscles moving as the tall woman gracefully maneuvered her about the room, rather like a puppet. Ami couldn't help but think that Makoto could pull her strings like this any time, any place.

For some reason, when Makoto gently moved her hands around Ami's body to reposition her spine, Ami felt that it had suddenly become warm in the room. The blue-haired woman was sure it wasn't from the warm orange glow of the candles though. She let out a breath in what she hoped was a quieter hiss than it sounded to her own ears.

Makoto took a moment to sniff Ami's hair, as she guided her girlfriend's hands as if parting a horse's mane. 'Ami would use blueberry scented shampoo, wouldn't she?' was Makoto's amused thought. She moved her left leg forward, causing Ami to do the same, and was suddenly aware of the shorter woman's backside pressing against her. Makoto hadn't noticed before now just how much lower body strength Ami had. 'Probably from all the swimming she does'. Makoto felt Ami's back muscles tense a bit again.

Ami, meanwhile, had given a name to the emotion she felt coursing through her body. Desire. She had never felt so lascivious before. She gently bit her lower lip as she felt Makoto's breath on her neck as the other whispered, "Relax, Ami. Just . . . let yourself go."

Makoto found her smile grow a bit when Ami suddenly took the lead, repeating almost perfectly several of the motions Makoto had shown her. There were slight variations in them, but nothing to complain about. No doubt about it, Ami was a fast learner. The woman had always had a mind like a steel trap. "There now, you see? You can --"

Makoto cut herself off, suddenly realizing the subtle variations were very strategic, and very _intentional_. Ami repeated the same motions again a few more times, accenting her variations on the movements a bit more, increasingly pressing back against Makoto at certain times and places. Then she started varying the speed of her motions, moving quickly at times and slowly at others. Was Ami actually trying to seduce her? Makoto suddenly felt her head spinning.

Suddenly, feeling no need to hide her feelings anymore, Ami spun around, put her arms around Makoto's shoulders, and pulled her down toward her. Ami brushed her lips against hers, then opened her mouth gently pushing her tongue in between the taller woman's lips. When Makoto didn't resist, Ami let her tongue rub against Makoto's for a moment, kissing the brunette as passionately as she could. As Ami tightened her arms around Makoto, Makoto's eyes went wide, surprised by her short partner's sudden lack of inhibitions. Granted, it wasn't the first time they had kissed, but witnessing Ami being so aggressive about it was quite the pleasant shock.

Just as suddenly as she had started, Ami pulled her lips away from Makoto's and gently rested her head on the other's shoulder as best she could given the height difference. Despite her mind finally overriding her heart, Ami said, with more than a hint of conflict with herself in her voice, "Dinner is going to get cold." She pulled away from Makoto and headed back to their food, almost acting as if nothing had happened.

Makoto touched her own lips with her fingers for a moment, feeling suddenly confused by what had just happened. It definitely couldn't have been something she said this time. Almost inaudibly, she said, "Hold the phone . . . what was _that_ all about?" Once she regained her senses, she closed the distance between them and pulled Ami back against her gently, halting the other in her steps.

Holding Ami with a hand around her waist, Makoto ran her free hand through the other's soft blue hair for a moment, letting the two of them be lost in their own thoughts. They stood like that for several minutes. After what seemed like forever, Makoto broke the silence. "Come on, talk to me. What's wrong?"

She hadn't noticed Ami was crying until she spoke. Letting a quiet whimper escape her lips before she started speaking, Ami said, "I don't know, Mako-chan. I'm just scared. Afraid of what others will think, afraid of moving too fast, or even too slow. Of being hurt or hurting you somehow. Afraid of my own feelings. I want to move forward, I'm just --"

She let the rest of her thoughts die in her throat as Makoto gave her waste a gentle squeeze. Still running her hand through Ami's hair, she said, "Shhhh . . . It's all right to be scared of some of those things, Ami." Feeling the petite woman shake a bit as she tried to control her emotions, Makoto continued. "While I can understand you being afraid of what some people will think, at least you know your friends are happy for you. And you don't need to be afraid of how you feel. How you feel is just you being honest with yourself, nothing more."

After letting Makoto's words echo in her skull for a moment, Ami said, starting to pull away from her, "I should go."

Makoto pulled her back against herself tightly, but gently, feeling no resistance from Ami. "Not without an explanation, you're not."

The romantic candlelight played around them as they stood in silence. Ami pulled away from Makoto again, not roughly, just hard enough to get the other to let go of her. Walking toward the door, she said, "Because you worked so hard to make this a romantic and special evening, and I have absolutely ruined it." Opening the door to leave, she said without turning around, "I'm sorry Makoto. I need to sort out my feelings before you get hurt by --"

Ami stopped speaking and moving again, this time in the doorway. Makoto had once again closed the distance between them, this time only restraining Ami by gently placing a hand over the one Ami had on the doorknob. Ami looked up, causing her blue eyes to meet green ones. Those eyes were staring back at her as if silently begging her.

"Stay."

"No, I'm not going to --"

Makoto gripped her hand gently, pulling it off the doorknob. "That's right. You're not going to hurt me. You haven't ruined anything. Even if all we do is go and enjoy our dinner and just go to sleep, tonight will be special to me. As long as you stay." Holding Ami's hand with both of hers, squeezing it gently one last time, she said, "Ami, just stay. However the rest of tonight ends, we won't regret it. But I promise you, you will if you leave. I don't care what happens. Just stay." Putting Ami's hand back on the doorknob and moving her hand away, she stepped back, leaving the decision up to Ami.

Ami looked at her hand, then up at Makoto, then down the hallway several times, silently holding whatever conflict she was having in her head as she tried to come to a decision. To Makoto, it seemed to take the intelligent woman forever to come to a resolution. In reality, it was less than half a minute.

Her mind made up, she walked back in toward Makoto, kissing her gently on the lips as she closed the door behind her with her foot.

The hallway in front of Makoto's apartment remained vacant the rest of the night.


	10. Chapter 10 Rush Hour Traffic

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 10: Rush Hour Traffic**

Morning had come to the land of the rising sun, with a reddish color to it, slowly rising into the sky. Long, thin shadows formed as light spilled through the streets between the buildings, bathing the city in a soft glow, as if to purify the city of darkness once again. That same light spilled into the bedroom of Makoto Kino, causing her green eyes to slowly open.

She yawned quietly for a moment as the gears in her mind started to crank up for the day. The realization that the previous night's events hadn't been a dream came to her as she took in her surroundings. She had fallen asleep in bed on her side, with her arm draped over Ami's waist, almost protectively. Makoto had let Ami borrow one of her t-shirts, which, on Ami, almost acted as a short nightgown. Her companion had fallen asleep with her back pressed against her, facing away. It reminded Makoto of Ami's lesson in Tai Chi from the night before. Makoto smiled softly as she took Ami's soft, slow breathing as a sign the other was still asleep. While the brunette didn't know it, it was also the first full peaceful night of sleep Ami had had in three weeks.

Then, as if sensing her tall partner was awake, Ami rolled over to face her, but kept her eyes closed. She wrapped her arms and one leg around Makoto, squeezing her as if she could somehow bring the other closer to her. As if admitting defeat, Ami's soft voice purred quietly, and despite its low volume, it seemed to fill the room. "What time is it?"

Makoto stretched her arms, then turned the clock on the nightstand a bit so she could read it. "Almost eight thirty." Looking down at Ami's mop of blue hair, she said almost as if delivering bad news, "Sorry, Ami, time to get up." Ami, for her part, pretended she hadn't heard Makoto, favoring trying to fall back to sleep again instead.

Makoto poked Ami's shoulder and Ami promptly ignored her. "Come on. We're supposed to meet the others to go shopping in an hour. Haruka will be here soon to pick us up."

Ami opened one blue eye and regarded Makoto. Smiling, she said in her defense, still purring sleepily, "Haruka is coming to pick _you_ up in an hour. She doesn't know I'm here." Ami paused a moment to yawn, then said, "So there wont be enough room in that small car of hers for herself, Michiru, Setsuna, Hotaru, you, and me. My car is parked in your space, so I'll catch up later." Then she closed her eyes with a happy smile as if she had won the argument, hugged Makoto tight again, and started trying to go back to sleep.

"Come on, don't be like that. You can sit on my lap." When Ami didn't respond, Makoto sighed and laid her head back down on the pillow for a moment, letting Ami think she had won. Then she said quietly, "You know, we both learned a lot about each other last night."

Ami, sounding a little more distant and closer to her destination of sleep again, said, "Mmm hmm. I found it interesting that you curl your toes when you are particularly enjoying yourself."

Makoto had to stop and fight her cheeks from turning pink at that comment. No, the previous night's events had definitely not been a dream, then. Once she had composed herself more, she said, returning to her strategy to get Ami moving, "and I learned where you are ticklish."

Opening both eyes, and suddenly awake, the bluenette lifted her head to look at Makoto. "You wouldn't."

Makoto looked into Ami's eyes and smiled. Nearly laughing, she said, "I would, and you know it."

There was a sudden fury of movement and frantic rustling of fabric as Ami jumped out of bed. Laughing, she said happily, "That's not fair. All I want is to get a few more minutes of sleep."

Just then, the radio alarm on Makoto's clock kicked on. Apparently, Minako was at work because her voice spoke over the radio in that happy cheerful morning person tone she used while at work. It fooled all but those who knew her most. Despite being a morning radio DJ, Minako was anything but a morning person. "This is Minako Aino for the WKLTX 103.5 Weekend Morning Show With Ritsuko, filling in for Ritsuko Hinokicho," she added angrily, "who called in so she could go shopping! I'm on to you, Ritsuko!" Ami could almost see Minako in the studio, standing up shaking her fist in frustration.

"See? Even Minako agrees with me. Time to get ready." Makoto said teasingly.

Then, remembering she was still on the air, Minako continued. "Rise and shine Tokyo! It's a beautiful day! The celebration for the completion of the Tokyo Midtown Project is still underway. Sales are still on at the Dressterior, T-square, Beams House, Equation du Temps, in Touch, and more! Several of my friends are going to be there today." Finally taking a breath, she said, sounding a little disappointed, "I wish I could be there with them, but no! I have to work! No rest for the best! Eh . . . I'll be going later today anyway, so nyah!"

Picking up with her cheerful radio voice again, she continued. "Well, to help those of you on your way to the sales, I, Minako Aino, will play Kiwi Love by the pop band Speed! Wow! That came out while I was in my senior year of high school! Well, now that I have dated myself for my viewers I sha --" The radio beeped softly as Makoto clicked off the alarm.

Shaking her head, Makoto said, "I keep telling her that people on the radio have listeners not viewers, but she still says that."

Ami shrugged and said, "By now I figure she knows, and just does it as a gimmick. She loves to portray herself as the typical stupid blonde even though when she wants to, she can be quite clever . . . occasionally."

"Speaking of a particular occasionally clever blonde, you have a suitcase with three days worth of clothing in it in the guest bedroom, packed courtesy of Minako." Makoto had told Ami about her visit from her double nearly three weeks ago now, but felt she didn't need to bring that little devil up at the moment. She hadn't even remembered about Ami's clothes until just now.

Ami walked over to Makoto, and put her arms around her, saying, "Three days with you wouldn't be a bad thing."

Smiling again, Makoto said, pretending to be frustrated, "Quit stalling. You're not getting back in this bed 'til much later in the day. Come on, we need to get ready or we are going to be late."

Sighing, Ami said, "All right," and as she pulled away from Makoto she added, "I assume you'll be there to tuck me in?" As the two flirted shamelessly for a while, Ami couldn't help but think how normal she felt. How normal everything felt. Wasn't she supposed to feel different? Then she noticed that in a small way, she did feel different. She felt amazingly relaxed, comfortable, like nothing could ruin her day, so long as Makoto was with her.

After a few flirtatious comments back and forth between the two, Ami went to the guest bedroom and gathered her clothes for the day while Makoto went and brushed her teeth. After a few minutes, Ami walked in and found the sight of Makoto flossing her teeth to be amusing. Makoto just looked so undignified with her tussled hair, mouth opened as wide as she could, and her lips pulled back so she could see her teeth. For some reason it felt like the most ridiculous thing Ami had seen.

Makoto finally realized Ami was there, when she started to laugh. "Is something funny?" Makoto said, pretending to be upset. "I can think of something equally funny." She picked up the container of dental floss, pulled out a section of it, and ran at Ami, who by this point held up her hands in self defense while she started to laugh again and tried to run away. For the first time in weeks, Ami seemed to be perfectly at ease to Makoto. It was a welcome change from her usual mood to see Ami happy once again.

They were so preoccupied with each other as the two playfully ran out of the room, that neither noticed their reflections in the mirror had stayed right where they were, watching them as if they were hunting prey.

* * *

Haruka had her yellow 2003 TVR Cerbera sports car parked next to the curb in front of the apartment building, waiting for Makoto. She was outside the car, leaning against the driver side door which had the window rolled down, flipping through an old car magazine and making no attempt at hiding her boredom. Michiru was sitting in the car on the front passenger side seat reading a romance novel. Hotaru was laying across the trunk of the car catching up on her homework assignment for her science class. They had already been waiting for fifteen minutes.

Not looking up from her book, Michiru said, "You wouldn't have to wait so long if you wouldn't speed."

Lazily flipping to the next page, Haruka responded with a frustrated growling sound.

"Speaking of which, you shouldn't speed when Hotaru is in the car. Isn't that one of our rules?"

Haruka growled again. She had known that was going to come up.

Hotaru picked this moment to speak up. "Don't worry, Michiru Mama, Haruka Papa only goes 24 kilos over the speed limit when she takes me to school."

Haruka looked up, originally intending to vent her frustration on the concrete wall in front of her. As she was doing that, the door to the apartment building opened, and her expression changed to one of confusion, then her lips made an O shape as realization dawned on her. Then a mischievous smile as she thought to herself, 'They're sleeping together! HA! Michiru owes me twenty yen! Then again . . . just because they are sleeping together, doesn't mean they are having sex . . . so maybe not.'

Ami said cheerfully, "Good morning, Hotaru," as she walked out the door behind Makoto. "My homework assignment isn't giving you too much trouble, is it?"

Hotaru, who had rolled over onto her back as she read, looked up, causing her hair to scrunch up a bit around her head. Seeing her teacher unexpectedly caused her to jump off the trunk of the car and stand up straight, as if it were the beginning of class. "Good morning, Mizuno Sensei!" Then she got a slight look of embarrassment on her face as Ami started laughing. She seemed in an unusually good mood today to Hotaru.

"We're not in class, Hotaru-chan." Ami used the honorific to emphasize her point. When they were in school, Hotaru had to call Ami, Mizuno Sensei. When Hotaru had been assigned to her class, there had originally been some worry that Ami would show favoritism to Hotaru. Instead, Ami actually expected more from her than her other students, and was even known to lean harder on her. Still, when they were outside of class, Ami preferred Hotaru to refer to her less formally. It had taken Ami quite a while to get her to do that, and she wasn't about to let Hotaru get out of the habit, since Ami felt it mucked with standing and camaraderie among the Senshi.

Makoto, still nibbling on a piece of toast she had left over from breakfast, greeted Haruka. "Good morning, Haruka. I hope we didn't keep you waiting too long." Then she leaned down a bit and waved at Michiru. Even though Michiru wasn't looking up, she still waved back politely, still engrossed in her book. "Where is Setsuna?" the brunette asked as she looked around. She was hoping to get the chance to thank her for her advice last night, and was a little disappointed not to see her.

Michiru replied from behind her book, "She said she would take her car and join us later since she had a few things to do this morning." Finally looking up, she said, "I'm guessing now, her real reason was she knew there wouldn't be enough room. It's nice to see you both again. You both look rather . . . refreshed."

Ami blushed a dark crimson color upon hearing the comment, taking it to mean Michiru had taken a guess at the previous night's activities. Makoto didn't seem to notice, as she said happily as she finished off her toast, "Yep! A good night's sleep works wonders for people."

Then Haruka said less cryptically, with a grin that could put a Cheshire cat to shame, and causing Ami to actually turn even redder, "She wasn't referring to your good night's sleep, Mako-chan. Come on, we want details." That caused Makoto to turn a bit pink, and even Hotaru caught the meaning of it, clearing her throat quietly as she looked back and forth at Ami and Makoto.

Makoto asked a little shyly, "Don't you think that's a rather personal question, Haruka?"

Trying to get Hotaru's mind off of what Ami was sure the girl was thinking she said, trying to sound confident and failing miserably, "So, uh . . . what part of your homework are you on?" It just seemed awkward to her knowing one of her students, even if it was one who was a friend of hers, was interested, or had any knowledge about her romantic life.

Hotaru, feeling a little awkward herself for the same reason, decided to try to help Ami save face and, to keep her from suffering more embarrassment said, "You know what? I just finished it. How about we get going? I'm told one of the stores in Midtown sells some rather interesting lamps I'd like to add to my collection."

As their group got in the car, Haruka couldn't help but wonder why, of all things, Hotaru enjoyed collecting lamps so much.

The car ride up to now had been fairly quiet for the most part. Haruka was driving, and Michiru was next to her reading her book. Hotaru was looking out the window and watching the world go by, as was Makoto who had the other window seat in the back. Ami, squeezed between the two in what passed as the third passenger seat in the back, had taken the opportunity to rest her head on Makoto's shoulder and was getting a little more sleep.

Just as Minako's voice over the radio started commenting about the weather, they wound up having to stop for a traffic light at an intersection. Haruka was drumming her fingers on the steering wheel when she heard a car horn beep twice from the car beside them, then the sound of the driver of the next vehicle revving their engine.

Haruka looked over at the other car. That was the universal signal amongst street racers for 'Hi there, wanna race?' There was of course no way Haruka was about to race someone with her family and a few friends in the car. However, once she got a good look at the driver, her eyes opened wide in surprise.

Michiru, not looking up from her book, said, "Don't even think about it, Haruka."

Haruka, still surprised by who the driver of the other car was, narrowed her eyes and answered with the tone she used when she was looking for a fight. "I don't think we have a choice in the matter."

Michiru looked up at Haruka, then she said, irritated, "What are you talking about?" Seeing her lover's expression, she followed her gaze out the window and saw what for a second she was sure was a trick of her reflection on the window. Then she realized what she was seeing. Michiru was seeing herself driving the other car, as well as the doubles of Haruka, Setsuna, and Hotaru, as passengers. Her double waved almost cheerfully, as Michiru made eye contact with her.

The moment the light turned green, the other car squealed its tires on the pavement, causing Ami to wake up. She couldn't see the occupants of the other car, but she recognized the familiar opulent blue pearl 2001 Honda Acura RL almost immediately. Watching as the car flew forward, she said from the back seat, "That's funny, that looked just like my car." Then, as she got a look at the license plate, she said loudly, "Oh my god, that _is_ my car!"

Haruka wasted no time, slamming her foot down on the gas pedal, quickly closing the distance between Ami's car and hers. The blue Acura stayed in its lane, then slammed on its brakes, letting Haruka pass it, then sped up, switched into the same lane as Haruka, and rammed her car from behind, causing the lock on the trunk to break, sending it flying open for a moment, spilling some of the contents onto the road as it did so, then slamming back down and vibrating with every bump of the road. All of the passengers screamed out in either surprise or panic. Makoto looked over her shoulder and said angrily, "It's them!" Ami and Hotaru didn't need to ask who.

Michelle grinned, watching the reaction of the people in the car in front of her. Trista leaned forward and said calmly, as if giving advice to someone playing a game of chess, "Ram them again." Michelle was all too happy to oblige as she sped up, and side swiped the rear left side of Haruka's car, sending sparks flying and nearly knocking the yellow car into a spin.

Haruka gritted her teeth as she fought to keep control of her car and said, "Ideas, anyone?"

As the car shook violently from a third impact, Ami said as she made sure her seat belt was fastened tightly, "Just one! Head to Midtown like we were planning since the others will be there! We might be able to outnumber them if the ones in the car are all of them!"

Haruka sped up and said, "Good plan, but we gotta put some distance between us and them. I know a short cut, but it's risky."

As Hotaru watched the Acura closing in again like a shark chasing a fish, she said, "Do it, Haruka Papa!" Then she added with an edge of panic to her voice, "Incoming!"

The now-familiar sensation of being knocked around occurred again. Ami said, "I think they want us alive!"

"What makes you think that?" Makoto said, trying to stay calm. Dying in a demolition derby wasn't something that had been on her top ten list of things to do today.

"They aren't using their attacks," Hotaru said for Ami. Just about any offensive attack from any of the Sekkou would be enough to take out a car in one hit.

The sound of the pavement rushing under the car changed as Haruka sped the car up and got onto a bridge. Their pursuers caught up again. This time Michelle slammed their car into the side of Haruka's, pressing the yellow car against the concrete barrier dividing the opposite lanes, sending sparks flying from both sides of Haruka's car.

Yelling above all the sound, Haruka said, "You wanted me to take this short cut! I want you to know that, Hotaru!" As the two dueling cars got halfway across the bridge, the concrete barrier had an opening in it so that emergency vehicles could turn around quickly if they had to. Haruka swerved her car through it, bringing her car just inches from the other barrier, then started weaving in and out of the traffic that was now going the opposite direction from them.

A look of fear crossed Haruka's face as she said, "This could be a mistake." In front of them were two semi trucks in both lanes. Haruka's only chance of avoiding them was to drive between them and hope there was enough room for her car.

Michiru put both her hands on the dashboard and screamed at Haruka, "Tenoh Haruka! This is insane! You're driving like an American!" Then, to the passengers in the back seat, she yelled, "Hang onto something!"

"They'd be crazy to follow us, wouldn't they?" Haruka yelled out, at the same time Michiru had told the others to hold on.

Ami had a perfect view of the two trucks in front of them and covered her face with her hands. She knew if either one, or worse, both, of the trucks hit them, seat belts and holding onto anything would not help. She had heard stories from her mother of what bodies looked like after being in a car versus semi truck accident and wasn't looking forward to being another example. Makoto held onto the back of Haruka's seat with a look of someone resined to their fate. Hotaru held onto her door, hyperventilating and looking for all the world (if it weren't for the child safety locks) like she would open the door and jump out. Their lives were in the hands of Haruka's driving skills, and luck now.

The yellow Cerbera slammed between the two semis, just barely fitting. The side mirrors went flying off, and about halfway past the trucks, the side windows exploded inward, sending glass flying everywhere, cutting into the occupants and getting stuck in their hair. Hot sparks rained inside the car, causing all but Haruka to close their eyes and turn away from the windows as best they could while fastened into their seats. The whole experience seemed like being way too close to a person cutting a metal sheet with a buzzsaw.

Then, just as quickly, it was over and they were alive! Fresh air blew in through the shattered windows, making it almost impossible at the speed they were going to hear what anyone was saying. However, over the sound of the wind and smell of burnt metal, rubber, and plastic, the sound of shearing metal and breaking glass could be heard as their pursuers' car came flying from between the semi trucks at the Acura's top speed, still in hot pursuit.

Haruka swerved her car past a sport utility vehicle and watched in her rear view mirror as their pursuers' car, its driver acting as if they were taking frustration out on the vehicle, side swiped the SUV, causing it to roll. Apparently, the Sekkou were not concerned about collateral damage or loss of innocent life. The sight of parts of the SUV flying in the air made Haruka's blood boil. It was time to stop playing around and take out the Sekkou once and for all, before they killed someone, if they hadn't done so already.

At the edge of the bridge, she swerved off the exit ramp, and then drove back to the proper side of the road the first chance she got. Watching as the car behind them did the same, she slammed on her brakes and jerked the wheel of her car so that their car came to a stop facing the opposite direction, causing the trunk to fly open and slam shut again. The Acura missed them by inches, but executed the same maneuver a moment later, not wasting any time to catch back up with Haruka.

Haruka smashed the gas pedal down as hard as she could, pressing everyone back in their seats, flying back up the exit ramp, staying on the outer part of the turn. Michelle brought her car up alongside Haruka's and was just about to try to smash them against the concrete barrier again, when Haruka gave her yellow Cerbera a violent jerk toward the blue Acura. Now on the bridge again, their opponent's car smashed into the wall. At the high speed they were going, the car became airborne, flying up and away from the bridge, small parts of the car and one of the doors flying off in every direction as it did so. Haruka noted that at least one of the Sekkou, the one that resembled Setsuna, got knocked out of the vehicle, flailing her limbs futilely as she flew through the air. Then the entire car, and the rest of its occupants, fell out of view, plunging to what Haruka hoped would be their deaths when they hit the hard, unforgiving ground below.

Haruka slowed the car back to a normal speed after swerving back into the proper lane and resuming their course. It was suddenly hard not to drive fast from the adrenalin still pumping through her. "Everyone OK?" she asked, still gripping the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles where white.

Somewhere after passing between the two trucks, Ami had put her arms around Makoto and was still squeezing the life out of her. Makoto, still trying to pry Ami's arms loose enough so she could breathe, managed to wheeze out, "We're fine. Hotaru?"

Hotaru was still holding onto the door, with her teeth clenched together as tight as she could, still afraid to open her eyes. "Is it over?"

Michiru said calmly and reassuringly, as she picked glass out of her hair, "Yes, sweetheart, it's over."

Not moving, Hotaru said angrily, "This is the last time I get in the car when Haruka Papa is driving."

Haruka shook her head a bit, finally feeling herself start to calm down, and let out a quiet laugh at Hotaru's comment. It had been a rush for all of them. Checking her gauges, she suddenly didn't want to know how badly damaged their car was. The gas gauge didn't appear to be working, and the car was severely overheated. Nearly every warning light, including the dreaded service engine soon light, was glowing on the dashboard. It was almost certainly going to be so expensive to repair, that they might as well buy a new one. "Well, on the bright side, we took out four of the --"

Haruka's words were cut off by a loud bang as a body slammed down on the hood of the car. At first Haruka had thought they had hit the enraged Dark Sailor Saturn. She must have landed in the road when their car went over the edge! Surely that was it!

Trista, Dark Saturn, welding her version of the Silence Glaive, slammed the sharp end of her weapon into the hood of the car, giving herself something to hold onto, and glared in at its occupants. Her long, dark green hair billowed around her almost like a cape.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Hotaru, Dark Pluto, slammed down on the trunk of the car, smashing in the back window with her version of the Garnet Rod, and reached in for Hotaru, wrapping her arm around her double's neck as she tried to choke the life out of her.

There were two more loud pounding sounds, as Ami guessed the other Sekkou that had been in her Acura crashed down onto what was left of the roof of Haruka's Cerbera like a hive of angry wasps attacking someone who had disturbed their nest. She reached over and tried to help Hotaru pull Dark Pluto's arm away from her neck.

Amara threw herself in through Makoto's window, landing on top of her, hitting her mercilessly and without pity repeatedly, at the same time that Michelle reached in and grabbed the steering wheel, trying to wrestle control of the car from Haruka.

Apparently, things were about to get even uglier than the car chase.

_**Author's note: In Japan, they say just say kilo for speed instead of kilometers, which is confusing because kilo is also associated with metric weight. For my fellow Americans, 24 kilometers is the equivalent of 15 miles**_


	11. Chapter 11 The Battle of Tokyo Midtown

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 11: The Battle of Tokyo Midtown**

"Thank you for riding Tokyo Metro Hibiya. Now stopping at Roppongi Station. Please bring all belongings with you. Please stay seated until the train comes to a complete stop and watch your step as you exit the train. Have a nice day," the automated message said in Japanese, then repeated itself in English, Chinese and Korean, as the subway train lurched to a squealing stop, like a giant underground slug dying a sweet slow death.

Rei, already not a fan of public transportation, found all versions of the announcements irritatingly cheerful. Who wouldn't, after spending the last thirty minutes sitting crammed between a rather creepy looking middle aged business man, and a loud obnoxious teenage boy that wouldn't stop leering at her and asking for her phone number? The nuns at TA academy had described to Rei the Christian hell many times, and from what Rei could recall from those long lectures of eternal damnation, fire, and brimstone, hell couldn't hold a candle to having to endure a trip via public transportation._ Especially _on the subway.

She had originally planned to get to her destination with Minako, but since the blonde had to work unexpectedly, Rei was forced to take the subway since the shrine's old battered car was in the shop. Minako had apologized profusely when she had called earlier that morning, and had promised she would be there later to enjoy at least a little bit of shopping with her friends and to bring Rei home. After this, though, Rei was seriously considering killing Minako on sight, until she realized that would mean she would have to ride the subway _again_ to get home.

The moment the doors opened, Rei practically pushed the irritating teenager out of her way, scrambling toward the door as fast as she could, like a moth flying toward a bug zapper. There wasn't a force in hell . . . or worse, this subway car, that could keep the fiery miko from missing her stop.

While Tokyo Midtown could be reached by an underground passage, Rei felt a little sunlight and fresh air would do her good after being crammed like a sardine inside of that tin can. Besides, it was only a short walk to her destination from here. She didn't stop running until she was out of the terminal and back in the morning sun. She stopped for a moment to take a deep breath of fresh air (at least, fresh air for a major city) and enjoy the feeling of warmth that the morning sun provided to her skin once again. Rei said out loud, happy to be free from her subterranean prison, "Oh, Kami! It's nice to feel human again!"

The newest addition to the Tokyo skyline was her destination. Nearly six years in the making, the Tokyo Midtown Tower Project loomed over her as if she were a mere bug. At fifty-four floors, the glass skyscraper was the tallest building in the Tokyo prefecture and the fourth tallest in the country. The various buildings and land that made up the the Midtown Project housed a wide assortment of facilities. Everything was there, from museums, residences and office space to the new Tokyo Ritz Carlton, a rather large park this deep into the city, and restaurants. It was literally possible to live, work, and play all in the same complex without ever having to brave a journey across town. And of course, the stores! Even Ami could find a shop to happily blow money here!

Still, Rei never really did enjoy modern architecture. The tall, gleaming glass building smacked of modern monstrosity. She much preferred the peaceful grounds of the shrine to places such as this. But then, they were going shopping, so she could overlook what was in her mind -- the building's unappealing design. An amused smile appeared on her face as the thought that Ami would probably not shut up about the architecture of the building for the next three weeks.

Once Rei reached the entrance to the main tower, she walked inside the glass doors, which opened by themselves like something out of Star Trek. The area beyond the entrance was a large, brightly lit, open five-story area, lined with shops on both floors. There were support columns throughout, and on the far end were elevators and escalators. Hard gray marble floors beneath her feet and a building directory directly in front of her made up the rest of the environment. Ultra-modern summed it up nicely. Rei did find the support columns scattered throughout the area interesting though -- they seemed to split up like branches of a tree near the ceiling.

Just as Rei was through the doors, she was pulled into a bear hug by Usagi. As Usagi proceeded to squeeze the life out of Rei, she said excitedly, "Hi, Rei! It feels like forever since we got together just to have some fun! Just think of it! No setting people up, no meetings, no saving the world, just all nine of us having fun! Won't that be great, Rei?"

Roughly the time that Rei was going to complain to Usagi about not being able to breathe, Usagi let her go. As the oxygen rushed back into Rei's lungs, she noticed that Setsuna was the only other one there at the moment. Deciding in the interest of preserving the happy atmosphere, for once Rei didn't gripe at Usagi and instead said, "Minako is going to be late, but we should be able to meet up with her at the food court around lunch time. Where is everyone else?"

Setsuna answered quietly, leading the small group to a nearby coffee shop on the other side of the plaza. "They went to pick up Ami and Makoto. I came here by myself so they would have enough room in Haruka's car."

Rei looked at Setsuna with a puzzled expression and asked as she walked with them, "Why didn't Ami just drive up here in her car?" Then she said with a little surprise in her voice as she put two and two together, "Ami was already with Makoto? As in, overnight?" Usagi's eyes darted back and forth between Setsuna and Rei as the two spoke. Rei took Setsuna's silence as a yes and said excitedly, "Ha ha! Minako owes me twenty yen!"

Since they had reached the coffee shop, Usagi ordered them all just a plain cup of coffee to help conserve their money for shopping, and quietly listened to the exchange between the two as she waited for their order and for the others to arrive.

Setsuna looked a little frustrated with the turn of conversation. "Look, it's none of our business. Besides, they didn't do that. They just explored their relationship more, that's all."

An amused smile crossed Rei's face as she spoke. "I see. They 'explored there relationship'. Is that the term they are using for it nowadays? Cause that's a new one. You actually saw what they did, huh? Let me ask you something, Setsuna." Turning her head to the side a bit she asked, "What constitutes sex between two women in your mind?"

Trying to remain the voice of reason in the conversation, Setsuna replied, "I didn't watch them, and to answer your question, I . . .", Setsuna paused for a moment, then gave a shrug almost as if conceding defeat. "I honestly don't know the answer to that. I've never been with a woman before, and it has been a long time since I was with someone at all. Why don't you ask Michiru and Haruka?"

Usagi paid for the coffee and handed her friends their cups as she took a sip of her own. While the blonde hadn't said a word yet, she found the topic of conversation between her two friends strangely fascinating.

Ignoring Setsuna's suggestion, Rei opted to tease Setsuna instead, saying, "OK. I'll buy your whole you didn't watch but you know what they did excuse, but, if you don't know what constitutes sex between two women, how do you know they didn't," Rei gestured to emphasize the end part as she said with mock exasperation, "ya know, do it?"

Setsuna moved her cup of coffee up to hide her smile just as Usagi asked, almost as if on cue, "Why are you so interested in that, Rei?"

Rei got a look of surprise on her face, then glared at Usagi angrily for a moment before answering. "I'm just curious, that's all." Then twirling away from the two with a frustrated sigh, Rei asked, "Where are they anyway? As fast as Haruka drives, shouldn't they be here by now?" She stood glaring at the entrance she had come through only a few minutes ago on the other side of the plaza, secretly hoping the other group would be entering at that very moment to help give her an excuse to change the conversation. This subject had suddenly become uncomfortable to Rei, even if she had started it.

Just as Rei was about to turn back around to face her friends, the glass doors exploded inward, throwing shards at nearby patrons to the new building, as a battered yellow sports car flew through it. After the car smashed through the building directory, it spun in circles for a moment as it came to a stop near the center of the shopping area, throwing one of its unlucky occupants through the front windshield as it did so. The impact of the car against the doors set off several sprinklers near the entrance, soaking everyone who was trying to flee.

The body flew through the air like an out of control missile, past terrified onlookers and between support beams. Then, just as the unlucky individual got a few feet from the wall on the far end of the plaza from the entrance, it did something that even with Usagi's limited understanding of physics, should have been impossible to do. It stopped in midair. Hovering for a moment longer, Dark Sailor Pluto lowered her small frame to the ground. After taking a moment to dust herself off, she jumped back into the air and flew back toward the car, sending a bright purple ball of energy flying ahead of her. It smashed into the car, blowing it to bits just as its occupants scrambled to get out of it, sending her friends and foes alike, plus small hot pieces of the car flying in every direction.

Setsuna watched the cashier run back into the kitchen to tell her coworkers what had just happened. Seeing that they were temporarily alone, Setsuna grabbed her companions' shoulders and said, "Now would be a good time to transform."

Usagi let her attention leave the tire she was watching roll across the floor when Setsuna spoke. Feeling a little stupid for not coming to the same conclusion' she said said, "Uh . . . right!"

Once the three of them had transformed, Sailor Pluto commanded, "You two find Ami and Makoto, and make sure the two of them are OK. We will buy you time for Ami to formulate a plan. Once she has, back us up. Until then, I want you all to watch and make sure the other Sekkou don't show up and outnumber us."

Rei looked furious at being told to step aside. After all, It wasn't like they were kids anymore. "You expect us to just sit off to the side while your group gets all the glory?"

"This has nothing to do with glory. It's the closest thing to a plan we have for the moment. Now_ go_!" said Setsuna, finding it suddenly difficult to keep her patience.

Trying to end the argument, Usagi grabbed Rei's shoulder and said, "Come on, Rei. I think Ami flew this way when the car blew up, and I saw Makoto land somewhere inside that clothing store over there."

Meanwhile, out in the plaza, the fight was already in full swing. The area was lit up by various energy attacks being hurled back and forth as pedestrians ran out of the building to avoid getting killed in the powerful crossfire. The phenomenal attacks formed craters into the hard marble floor and smashed through walls. Merchandise and parts of the building flew through the air like deadly shrapnel as brand new shops and displays became part of the expanding war zone.

Haruka set her sights on her double, Amara, but from the moment she started her assault, the odds quickly went in her double's favor. Not necessarily because Amara was a better fighter, but because, unlike Haruka, Amara simply refused to fight fair. At first the two merely traded punches back and fourth, nether able to score a decisive blow on the other. Then as they moved their fight near a small jewelry stand, Amara brought her fist down onto the glass case, shattering it. Blocking Haruka's next punch with one hand, she used her other to scoop up a hand full of glass. Ignoring the pain as the shards cut into her hands, she brought up her hand as if to return the punch, then instead threw the glass at Haruka's face.

Haruka closed her eyes for a moment and stepped back, bringing up her hands to protect her eyes as the sharp pieces of glass sliced into her skin. When she did this, her opponent wasted no time in delivering a powerful kick to Haruka's stomach. Haruka staggered back for a moment, but had recovered quickly since she had tensed her stomach muscles in anticipation of her opponent's actions. However, it gave Amara just enough time to prepare for her next move.

Amara did several back flips while Haruka was preoccupied so as to put some distance between the two. Then she pointed at Haruka and yelled out "_**Tidal Submerge**_!"

At first, nothing happened. Haruka smiled and took a few steps forward, saying, "Looks like you need more practice with --" She was cut off by a low rumbling sound. Now it was Amara's turn to smile as the cinder block wall just above her shattered as if it were glass, and a wave of water smashed into Haruka, this time knocking the air out of her. The wave lifted her off her feet and smashed her through a wall, then receded just like a gentle tide, as Haruka slowly slid to the ground.

Michiru had her hands full with Michelle. Unlike her lover, who preferred to get up close and personal, Dark Sailor Uranus preferred to attack from the air. Hovering several feet above Sailor Neptune, she rained attack after attack down on her opponent, mostly just sending yellow blasts of energy toward her. As Michiru jumped behind a column for cover she thought about how strange it was that her double could attack repeatedly like that without even using a verbal command. Sure, they had all used an attack once or twice without doing so throughout there careers as Senshi, but not in a repetitive barrage like this. Thankfully, they were relatively low-powered compared to a standard ability. Granted though, even a low powered attack from any of the sailor warriors would kill a normal human being with a near miss. As that thought crossed Michiru's mind, she started to get the impression she was being toyed with.

As if to confirm her suspicions, she heard her rival shout "_**World Smashing**_!" and felt the steel column she was hiding behind buckle then splinter into pieces as a powerful yellow energy wave smashed her into the ground, sending up a cloud of dust and chunks of marble. As the dust settled, Michiru found herself lying in the center of a crater.

Hotaru and Trista were locked in a contest of skill over who was the better with their weapon. Trista's version of the Silent Glaive was a bit longer than Hotaru's, which, along with her height, gave her more of a reach, but Hotaru was just a touch quicker which allowed her to compensate. The two weapons clanked together loudly for a third time, then as before the two began twirling their weapons, trying to slice into each other and at the same time dodge the other's attack, resulting in both hitting only air. If it weren't for the large sharp point on their staffs glistening in the light, they would have looked as if they were putting on some kind of a show.

However, whenever Trista felt Hotaru was starting to get the upper hand, or came just a bit too close for comfort to slicing into her flesh, Trista would swing her glaive straight down toward the ground. A seemingly simple and perhaps unwise act given the fury of Hotaru's onslaught, except that Hotaru knew that simple move could very well bring about the end of the world. So, Hotaru was forced once again to stop trying to inflict a decisive injury upon her opponent and block the other's weapon, which brought the two back to square one.

This time, when the two weapons made contact, Trista used her staff to push Hotaru back several feet, then jumped into the air and flew in the opposite direction several more feet to give herself more room. Once she reached a more desirable distance, she hovered in the air and watched Hotaru regain her balance.

Dark Sailor Saturn smiled evilly down at her opponent, then called out, "_** Harvester of Souls!**_" Then as she laughed insanely, she raised both hands, as a ball of energy black as night formed between them, then she opened them, releasing it. As it flew toward Hotaru, the black sphere took on the shape of a giant skull, and seemed to make a sound reminiscent of laughter as it flew toward Hotaru. Hotaru had just enough time to raise her silence wall. The hideous skull smashed into the shield, sending waves of dark energy curving around her barrier, then caused an explosion that was strong enough to send Hotaru, still encased within her shield flying like a ball through the air.

Sailor Pluto and Dark Sailor Pluto were standing several feet from each other, talking as if the fight raging around them weren't happening at all. "It's awfully nice of your companions to leave you to us," the evil twin of Hotaru said as she gripped her Garnet Rod in her hand tightly. "Why should we waste our time fighting anyway? We both know who is going to win, so you should just surrender now." As if observing the destruction around them for the first time, she added with mock sadness, "All this violence and destruction is such a waste of time and energy."

Setsuna looked at her opponent as if sizing her up and said, "They haven't abandoned us." She left it at that to indicate she wasn't about to give away how much or little they had planned for this encounter, even though this was potentially impossible to avoid while dealing with a warrior of time. Then, answering her second comment, she said, "The future is never set in stone. It is always in motion, always changing. We wouldn't fight you if you would just come and talk to us. There is still the chance we could actually resolve whatever your dispute with us is peacefully." Narrowing her eyes at Dark Pluto, Setsuna said with just a hint of anger, "But a peaceful resolution isn't your desire, is it." It wasn't a question.

The seemingly youngest Sekkou cackled insanely for a moment as if Setsuna's response were the funniest joke she had ever heard. "You know what your problem is? You are so predictable, and you want the rest of the universe to go how someone else has decided it should go. In reality you would be a lot happier if you would just step aside and let the universe do whatever the hell it wants to." Then, as she gave Sailor Pluto a rather insane smile, she said, "If you joined with instead of fighting the chaos of the universe, I think you would find you would greatly increase your own power. For instance, Pluto is the god of the underworld. Yet you seem to have no wish to use that power. You rely on a limited ability to control time and space, and one insignificant attack, when an entire army rests at your feet."

Then, as if to demonstrate, she whispered, "Summoning of the necromancer." She tapped her staff on the ground gently, then three rectangular shaped holes formed in a row in front of Dark Pluto. "Witness a taste of what you could be capable of if you would simply choose to not follow the rules laid down by a kingdom long since turned to dust." As she spoke, three beings emerged from what Setsuna had come to realize were graves.

The animated corpses clawed their way into the light for the first time in apparently a long while. The first were the badly decayed remains of a samurai, his once proud katana badly rusted, and leather armor weathered and rotting away in some areas. He seemed to have the look of someone who had died on a battlefield and was left to rot away with no one but the crows to mourn him, rather than being given an honorable burial. Second was a businessman. From the looks of his suit, he had died in the late 1950's. He had pale skin that looked cold to the touch, his eyes had sunk far back into his head, and his skin had only recently started to grow a dark green mold on it. He made a moaning sound, and as he did so a greenish liquid spewed from his mouth. Last in line was the reanimated body of a small girl clutching a stuffed bear. She looked to be from about the early 1900's, judging from the design of her dusty, discolored kimono. She lurched forward slowly, as chunks of her decomposed skin and locks of hair fell from her body.

This last poor soul struck a cord somewhere within Setsuna. It was bad enough to have died so young, but to have someone desecrate her innocent body in this way was simply appalling. Clutching her staff tightly, she said, "The dead deserve to be allowed to rest. As a guardian of time and as the senshi of Pluto, there are many things we are not supposed to do. Just because someone can do something, doesn't mean you have to. Your actions are . . . unforgivable. Disgraceful at best."

As her slaves stalked toward their prey, Dark Pluto said, "You see? There you go again with your rules. You keep referring to us as guardians of time, when what we really were meant to do is be mindless enforcers of destiny. Let me tell you something . . . Setsuna, is it? I have decided to make my own destiny, and I personally find the experience to be liberating. If we aren't supposed to be able to do things, then why give us the power to do so?" It seemed the damned souls took her closing words as their command to attack.

Now forced to defend herself, Setsuna parried a swing from the samurai's sword, sending rust flying as their weapons clashed together. The warrior's animated corpse tried to scream with rage as he attacked again, but his jaw and bits of his dry flesh fell from behind his ceremonial mask, distorting his battle cry to a high-pitched demonic shriek.

Then, as she blocked another blow from the samurai, the child zombie threw her worn bear to the ground and jumped onto Sailor Pluto's staff, wrapping her arms and legs around it and trying to bite Setsuna's hands. As Setsuna changed her grip to avoid receiving a nasty bite, she noticed her third attacker approaching her at as close to a run as the rotting businessman could manage. Seeing an opportunity to get rid of her hitchhiker on a stick, she swung her staff at him, smashing the little girl into his ribs. There was a loud, sickening, wet cracking sound as the two undead collided.

Just as the two smashed into each other, the suit zombie burst into flame, catching the small rotting child's kimono on fire as well. He twisted involuntarily as his tendons and what was left of his muscles and bones burned. The dead child released her death grip on Setsuna's staff, fell to the ground with a thud, and ran a few feet before the flames consumed her entirely. As both corpses burned to dust on the marble floor, Setsuna and her undead Samurai opponent both looked around for a moment to try to discover the source of the blast.

Setsuna laid eyes upon Sailor Mars just in time to see her send another blast of fire at her last attacker, causing his leather armor to curl up as it burned. The katana fell from his hands as he landed on his back, while the fire engulfed him and slowly burned the fallen warrior and his comrades to ashes. Then she watched as electricity wrapped around the evil version of Hotaru, causing her to scream in a mixture of surprise, pain, and pure rage.

Her adversary momentarily stunned, Sailor Pluto asked whichever of the nearby senshi would answer her, "What plan did you come up with?"

Makoto, stepping from her hiding place behind a rather tall floral display, put a hand in front of her mouth nervously for a moment as she answered quietly, "Uh . . . none?"

Rei spoke up, practically gloating, "We realized you were losing so we decided you all needed our help." Smiling at the irony of it, she added, "For once we get to save your butts!"

As Sailor Pluto looked around for a moment, she noticed Ami was helping Michiru fend off Michelle, and Usagi was doing her best to help Haruka deal with Amara. Makoto was already making her way over to Sailor Saturn to help her defeat Trista. Despite the lack of coordination they usually used, the battle had clearly reached a turning point in their favor. It looked like the loose objective was to herd all the outer rim planetary Dark Sekkou to the corner farthest from the entrance. That would make it possible to allow them to either talk over their differences, or annihilate this group of Sekkou once and for all.

Setsuna decided to take the moment to make sure that the evil version of her daughter was out of the fight. She whispered "Dead Scream!", sending a large ball of purple energy slamming into the girl before she could fully recover from Makoto's attack, causing her to fly through the air, ricochet off of a column and slide across the floor, stopping just shy of the corner they were trying to herd the Sekkou to. She was either badly hurt, or knocked out all together from the looks of it, because she didn't even try to get up. Odds were she would still be there by the time her teammates joined her.

Surprisingly, the Senshi were able to get the rest of the Sekkou to congregate there without using much force. As soon as Trista saw Dark Pluto's body slide to a stop, she yelled out to her partner, abandoning her fight with Hotaru and Makoto, as she ran to aid her fallen comrade. Realizing they were severely outnumbered, Amara and Michelle quickly made their way there as well.

It was almost too perfect. The senshi seized the moment and surrounded the sekkou, effectively trapping them in the corner. Even if the Sekkou tried to fly now, they would be knocked out of the sky in an instant. Sailor Pluto said calmly, "Now, as I was saying to your injured team member, it still isn't too late to talk this out. What is it you want?"

Trista was showing a surprising amount of concern for Hotaru as the Sekkou of time lay on the ground. As she tended to the other's wounds, she answered angrily, not even bothering to look up at her double as she spoke, "There isn't anything to discuss. Only a fool tells their enemies what they are doing."

Makoto spoke up, trying to stay calm and keep the adrenaline flowing through her under control, "You can't win now. Even you must be able to see that. We aren't about to stoop to your level and torture you. All we want to know is why you insist on fighting us, and to see if we can come to a mutual understanding without having to kill each other. That's really not too much to ask, is it?"

They watched as large sinister smiles formed on Amara and Michelle's faces. Ami was thinking maybe they were going to get at least a delusional comment or insult, but nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard her own voice answer Makoto from behind her.

"It's really quite simple, even for a bunch of simpleton, goody goody, screw ups like the lot of you. We want you to die, one by one, slowly and painfully." Then after giving an amused laugh, Ami heard her voice add, "Preferably screaming all the way on your journey to hell."

Usagi looked at Ami sounding bewildered as she said, "Geez Ami, I know you had a rather rough experience with them, but don't you think you're being just a little harsh?"

Ami turned around slowly while a look of dread formed across her face and answered ruefully, "That wasn't me, Usagi."

Rei, Usagi, and Makoto joined Ami in turning around, while Hotaru, Setsuna, Michiru and Haruka kept watching their doubles. Sure enough, the five missing Sekkou had finally decided to make their appearances. Suddenly the tables had turned and they were the ones that were surrounded. Dark Pluto let out another insane laugh as she jumped to her feet, demonstrating that she wasn't as badly hurt as she had let on. Haruka finally decided to voice what the others were thinking. She said angrily, "Damn it! It's a trap!"

Rei, refusing to believe they were suddenly in the loosing situation, and sounding as if she were just told she had done a complicated math problem wrong, said, "Wait a minute. We're smarter than this." Rei strained her mind to its limits trying to think of how they were going to get out of this. As the de-facto second in command behind Minako, she felt it was her responsibility to get them out of this. 'OK . . . we are surrounded by people who for the most part have scaled up abilities compared to us, cheat, and want to kill us for reasons we still haven't figured out, and we are out numbered by one since Minako isn't even here. What would Minako do in a situation like this?', she thought to herself as she looked around. Then she looked in to the eyes of the Sekkou they had had the most experience with almost as if she would give her an answer. As Amy glared down at them from where she was hovering, it clicked into Rei's mind what Minako would do.

"OK, Ami, what do we do?" Rei asked. If any of them knew how to get out of this, surely it was Ami.

As the Sekkou moved to neaten up their circle the senshi were now trapped in, Ami edged toward Hotaru slowly, trying not to be obvious about it. She hoped Hotaru was getting the message. Ignoring Rei for the moment, she looked at Dark Sailor Moon and asked, "So, you're just going to kill us all, right here, right now," Ami spread her arms out for a moment then finished, "and not even tell us why?"

Serena looked at Ami with genuine regret on her face. Unable to look them in the eyes, she looked away as she spoke. "Because it is the only way we can think of to save ourselves." Then she said sadly, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Finally Trista, unable to stand the delay any longer, yelled out, her voice echoing like an angry god in the large, cavern-like room which for several moments before that seemed entirely too quiet, "Enough! Serena, kill them."

Dark Moon hesitated another moment, as if she were unable to make up her mind. Then, a look of fearsome determination crossed her face as she started to glow brightly and lifted herself in the air. She started to spin slowly, then quicker and quicker as she built up energy and lowered herself back to the ground. Still spinning, she knelt down, then held up her hand and stopped so she was facing the senshi, and yelled out, "_**Moon Spiral Heart Attack**_!"

As the area around the Senshi turned dark, Ami yelled, "Now Hotaru!"

Once again, Hotaru cast her silence wall, the dark energy barrier forming around their group just in time, as a giant blast of energy in the shape of a heart slammed into them. The heart smashed into the shield causing a small explosion. Some of the Senshi yelled out in panic, not fully realizing what had happened. A bright light suddenly blinded everyone for a moment, and then . . .

As the light cleared, and their eyes adjusted, the Sekkou looked at the sight in front of them with emotions ranging from confusion to anger. All that was there, was a large dark hole, with sparks from exposed electrical conduits, and water from burst water pipes shooting into the air. The senshi had apparently been completely annihilated.


	12. Chapter 12 Flying the Unfriendly Skies

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 12: Flying the Unfriendly Skies**

As the dust settled, eight angry Sekkou stood silently, staring at the now trembling Serena. After several tense moments, being the closest to her, Lita grabbed Serena by the throat with one hand and lifted her off the ground and into the air as the rest of them stood around the two in a circle waiting for an explanation. Ray spoke up first. "You were supposed to kill them, not disintegrate them! We needed their bodies intact, you idiot!" As if in agreement, Lita put her other hand around Serena's throat to strengthen her grip.

As Lita started to slowly cut off Serena's air, she wheezed out, "I thought it wasn't strong enough of an attack to do that much to them!" As she grabbed Lita's hands, trying to force the stronger woman to let her go she gasped out, "I wanted this plan to work just as much as all of you di--!" Lita had apparently heard enough and squeezed harder so that Serena was no longer able to speak. Serena started to try to fly away, but Lita was strong enough to keep her iron grip on her throat and hold her relatively in place. Panic crossed the blonde's face as she started to flail her arms and legs around for a moment as terror gripped her heart.

Serena would have been even more fearful if she knew that Lita was tempted to break her neck right then and there. A small smile spread over her lips as Lita thought to herself, 'No, my friend, you deserve to die like a coward.' Watching as bruises started to form around her iron grip on Serena's neck, she finished her thoughts. 'Nice and slow.'

This time, Amy didn't come to her aid. Her soft yet angry voice cutting into the air like a knife, she said, "Your incompetence has damned us all to an eternal life of servitude to our enemies, and not for the first time. I think it is time we should rid ourselves of you once and for all." As if in agreement, the others moved closer, almost as if wanting to get a better look at their princess's demise. They looked for all the world like angry vultures waiting for an animal to die so they could each take turns ripping it apart. This wasn't too far off from what many of them were thinking.

Meanwhile, down in basement level one, the Senshi were dusting themselves off and helping each other to their feet. Rei looked up at the dim light and hot sparks pouring in from the huge hole in the ceiling and said, "It isn't going to take them long to figure out what happened to us. Can everyone stand?" She got a chorus of yeses in response.

After a few more moments of looking each other over and making sure their entire group was okay, Ami suddenly motioned for everyone to be quiet. As she listened to the sound of arguing coming from above them, she blinked, then said quietly, "I think they believe us to be deceased."

Looking confused, Michiru said "And they sound angry about it. I don't get it. Didn't they want us dead?"

"We can talk about that later," Haruka said quietly, not wanting the Sekkou to hear her. She continued, " We already have a lot more questions than answers from this encounter. Now would be a good time to fall back. There is a passageway that leads back to the subway system on this floor."

"No."

Everyone turned to regard Usagi for a moment. She had a surprisingly thoughtful look on her face as she said, "I think we should still try to reason with them. I can't believe they just want us dead for no reason. I say we try to capture one of them and give it a try." She looked at Ami and said, "I know they outnumber us, but you can't tell me we won't have surprise on our side."

Rei looked at Ami and said, "Well, I like it. Okay! So, What's the plan, Ami?

Mina leered at Serena as she watched the other twitching in terror. She started laughing out loud when the great and powerful Dark Sailor Moon's face actually started to turn blue.

With Serena out of the way, she would be the official leader instead of just a de-facto one. Ever since they had all become Sekkou, she secretly resented that. Of course, she would probably be challenged by Dark Saturn for leadership, but she was confident she would have most of the others' support should it come to that. A good fight between themselves would root out the weak links, and since a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link, this translated into a good thing for the Sekkou, under her command of course. Once the reorganization was complete, those who remained could then come up with a new way of breaking free of Queen Beryl's power over them.

Suddenly, a violent blast of water slammed into her and the other Sekkou, smashing them into a wall. Once the attack dissipated, they found themselves jumbled up in a pile. They all started to get to their feet and look around.

A voice from above them said, "It's bad enough that you're trying to kill us, but you threaten innocent people in the process! In the name of the moon, I will punish you!" The Sekkou looked up to see Sailor Moon standing on the second floor observation area glaring down at them, alive and well, determined to keep the upper hand. As they watched, the other Senshi stepped into view.

Serena, still greedily breathing in oxygen after not being able to do so for several minutes before, managed to gasp out, "You're still giving speeches?"

Before the Sekkou could reorient themselves, Haruka sent a ball of energy flying toward them, sending all of the Sekkou flying up into the air in every direction. But, instead of incapacitating or otherwise harming them, it seemed to only make them angrier, and instead of falling to the ground, they stopped in mid air and hovered level with the Senshi..Not giving their opponents the opportunity to even think, all of the Sekkou sent a barge of attacks at the Senshi as they flew forward, trying to close the distance. The fact they were outsmarted so easily seemed to enrage them, and made them eager to redeem themselves, if only in the eyes of their enemies. They also seemed to instantaneously forget their anger at Serena, now realizing she hadn't completely annihilated the Senshi after all.

As the fight renewed itself, and the Sailor Senshi scattered while starting to return fire, Sailor Jupiter was the only one of them unlucky enough to take a direct hit from the onslaught since she was the biggest target. She discovered that Dark Mercury's attack called Water Poisoning Surprise lived up to its name in more ways than one. She had suffered a direct hit from one of the green spheres of water a moment ago. The initial impact had been painful enough, but the sudden wave of nausea and dizziness she felt overtake her senses was unbearable. It brought the mighty Senshi of Thunder crashing to her knees. To make things even worse for Makoto, she suddenly felt the toast she had eaten earlier that morning rush up her esophagus, now mixed with sour stomach acid. Falling forward and barely able to hold herself up, Makoto was unable to muster up enough energy to keep her dignity as she threw up violently. Feeling her strength leave her, she let herself fall onto her side groaning loudly.

"Makoto!" Ami screamed, momentarily letting her emotions override her intelligence, as she started to run across the walkway to her girlfriend, seemingly oblivious to the crossfire. Moments before she reached Makoto, she felt a sharp pain in her head as Lita landed in front of her, sending one of her fists crashing against the side of Ami's skull. Lita watched for a moment while the smaller woman fell to the ground, clutching her head. Ami opened her mouth to yell out in pain, but no sound came out of her lips as she rolled on the floor trying to regain her senses.

Satisfied with knowing the bluenette was incapacitated, Lita turned to Makoto and said, insanely cheerful compared to how angry she had been only moments before, "I'll be taking you with me if you don't mind." Then she lifted Makoto off the ground, causing the downed Senshi to groan softly, and flew as fast as she could out the ruined entrance. Seeing their companion fleeing the battle at high speed with her prize, the others suddenly stopped attacking and followed her out.

Ami got to her feet unsteadily, leaning on the railing for support as she watched the last of the Sekkou clear the remains of the entrance doors. As the others gathered around her to figure out what to do, she felt her hands shaking while she gripped the railing, feeling her temper rise. Her plan had been to have Michiru and Haruka attack, since she figured their combined attacks would be enough to disorient the Sekkou long enough to give them the advantage. She knew it was a risky plan, but she felt it would work, and she simply didn't know they could recover that quickly. Her plan . . . "didn't work." She finished out loud, feeling disgusted with herself. As a result, her girlfriend was now facing a death sentence for seemingly no reason. Slamming her fist on the railing, she finally gave in to her frustration. "Damn it! It's my fault. How could I have been so stupid?"

Rei put a hand on her shoulder gently and said, "Don't be so hard on yourself. We'll get her back . . . somehow." Rei felt Ami's hand move up and grab hers tightly. For a moment Rei thought Ami was going to smack it away, but then she felt her friend's hand start to relax.

Ami took in a breath for a moment, trying to calm her nerves. It wasn't like her to let her emotions get the better of her. If she was going to help Makoto, she needed to calm down, and do it now. As she switched on her visor, she said, calmer, "We have to do something now, if they were serious about what they want to do." She set her visor so that she could see through the structure of the building. White outlines formed a complex wire mesh to represent buildings, cars and people as she searched for the Sekkou across the horizon. The others watched as she slowly moved in a circle. They didn't know it, but that seemingly simple circular movement brought pain to her heart when it somehow stirred memories of Makoto's lesson on tai chi from the night before. Focusing on the task at hand, as she finished moving a full 360 degrees twice to make sure, she said, trying to keep panic out of her voice, "I . . . don't see them."

Several of the Senshi started to talk quietly to each other, clearly sounding distressed. They started to raise questions. Questions Ami didn't even want to think about. "Could they have gone wherever it is they came from and brought Makoto with them? Could they somehow avoid detection on Sailor Mercury's visor? Could Makoto already be dead?" Most of them were trying to speak quietly, but they were too close for Ami not to ignore their comments.

Starting to feel frustrated again, Ami closed her eyes tightly, then tilted her head up for a moment and gazed at the ceiling, hoping for divine inspiration. Sighing for a moment, she moved her head to look back at the others, but stopped and looked back up as something just at the edge of her peripheral vision on her visor's display caught her attention. The others saw Ami's head start darting around quickly as she staggered back for a moment, placing her hand on her earing as she made rapid adjustments to her visor.

Haruka moved close to Ami and grabbed the smaller woman's shoulders, trying to steady her, since to the rest of them, she looked like she was about to pass out. None of them could blame her, really, since they knew how much Makoto meant to her. True, their relationship had just started, but they had had feelings for each other for a long time. It seemed cruel for them to be separated so soon. Haruka said, trying to reassure Ami, "It'll be okay. Just sit down for a moment."

This time Ami jerked away as she spun around, watching the area above Haruka. Ami's voice sounded hopeful and worried at the same time as she spoke. "No, you don't understand! I found them! They're flying circles around the building. I didn't see them before because I was looking too low since I assumed they were flying away from here. They still have Mako -- Oh no!" Ami suddenly looked mortified as her eyes started to dart down, then relieved as she started to look up again. She did this several times then said out loud, "They're tossing her around. My god, they're playing a sick, twisted game of . . . of catch."

Usagi said quietly, "How are we going to get to her if we can't fly?"

Ami had been thinking the same thing. She switched a setting on her visor, tracing the pattern of the Sekkou and Makoto as they all flew through the air. As a pattern emerged, she made an adjustment so she could see the building's structure. A plan came to her, but there was no way she could ask any of the others to go through with it. "Stay here," she said as she ran for the nearest elevator.

Rei called behind her, sounding worried, "Ami, wait! Where are you going? What are you doing? Come back!" In exasperation and frustration at Ami for bolting off without an explanation, Rei yelled out angrily, "Damn it, Ami! That's an order!" Ami, having enough of a head start, beat them to the elevator. As the others ran after her, they could only watch as the doors closed in front of her, blocking her determined expression.

Michiru looked at Haruka for a moment as the remaining Senshi looked back at the elevator doors. Haruka walked up to the elevator and slammed her fist into it. "What the hell is she thinking?"

Most of them had worried expressions on there faces except Usagi, who looked confused. "I don't get it. What are you all worried about?" she asked quietly.

Rei said, still staring at the elevator doors angrily, "Okay. Picture yourself in the same situation, only, instead of Makoto, Mamoru is the one they have. What would you be willing to do to get him back if you truly thought he was about to die?" As the others watched Usagi waiting for it to click, Haruka mimed looking at a wrist watch as if keeping track of time to see if Usagi would break some kind of record.

After several more moments of watching the glowing numbers above the elevator count up, realization suddenly dawned on her. "Oh no! She wouldn't!" Usagi pushed Rei and Haruka out of the way after running to the doors. She beat on the steel sheets as hard as she could yelling, "No Ami! Don't do it! We can come up with another way!" Setsuna ran for the stairs, yelling for the others to follow.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ami stood in the elevator staring at the doors. The inside of the new elevator doors where polished to a mirror reflection and she could see her own face staring back at her. The only sound was a soft hum from the motors and lights. Alone, Ami felt no reason to hide her emotions. She felt a moment of fear when she saw her image staring back at her, But after a short time she felt only anger. She could almost hear the logical part of her mind say through the reflection, 'Have you even thought this out? So you're going to do what? Just jump out a window? Are you crazy?'

Ami said out loud, listening to her own voice echo inside the enclosed space, as she recounted her admittedly insane plan. "Precisely. I can time it so I can land right on top of the one holding Makoto. If I'm lucky, my added mass will force them to have to lower to the ground."

'And if you're wrong? Luck hasn't exactly been on your side today. So I ask you again, since you avoided answering the question. Are you stupid? Or just insane?'

Sailor Mercury looked back at her reflection and said, as a small smile formed on her lips, "No, I'm in love." That seemed to quiet any doubts in her mind as the elevator slowly carried her to her destination.

As the doors opened onto the 45th floor, Ami walked out of the elevator, dressed in her casual clothing she had put on that morning. She felt suddenly out of place as she walked up to the reception desk of the Ritz-Carlton, but if she was going to get to a higher floor without raising too much of a ruckus, this part of her mission would have to be accomplished by Ami Mizuno, not Sailor Mercury, since Ami Mizuno was the one with a credit card and valid I.D.

When she approached the reception desk, a rather snobby-looking middle aged man said, "Excuse me madam, are you lost?" He looked at Ami, just barely hiding his amusement. To him, with the large bruise on the side of her head, scruffy hair, and small cuts from the ordeal she had just been through downstairs, made Ami look a lot less like the type of person who would want a room here. Surely she was meeting up with a friend or had made a wrong turn.

Apparently, word of the incident down stairs hadn't reached here yet, or the hotel staff didn't want to panic anyone who didn't know about it. Ami looked at the man politely and said as she adjusted her glasses when they slid down her nose just a bit, "No. I'd like a room for one night. Anything that's available will be fine."

The receptionist typed on his computer for a few moments, searching for a room, still smiling in amusement as the keys clicked seemingly loudly in the quiet room. His smile widened a bit more as he found the only room available. Suddenly forcing himself to look professional, he looked up at Ami and said, straight faced, "All we have is a corner junior suit on floor 51. It has a separate living room, king sized bed and bedroom, panoramic views of the --"

"It'll be fine," Ami said interrupting the man, and trying not to seem hurried. She pulled out her credit card and I.D, then asked politely, "How much?" Any amount was worth it if it got Makoto back to her.

"That will be 180,000 Yen for one night."

Ami kept her composure, but was unable to keep her face from turning a striking shade of white as she calmly handed the man her credit card without a word. As she waited for the card to clear, she hoped Minako would understand why she wouldn't be able to pay her share of the rent for this month.

"There you are, madam. Just take the --"

He was cut off again as Ami quickly grabbed the room key and receipt, and ran for the nearest elevator that would allow her to get to the 51st floor. As the elevator doors closed behind her, she could see the man still glaring at the strangest patron to, thus far, grace his precious hotel.

When the doors opened again, Sailor Mercury once again emerged, running full speed down the hall, her visor activated and her head twisting left and right as she watched the visor's images of the Sekkou flying around outside the building, thankfully still holding Makoto. A small timer was quickly counting down in the right corner of her view. Her destination was the ceiling to floor window at the far end of the hallway. She reached it and looked out, seeing the city spread out for miles, then took another deep breath.

She saw one of the Sekkou fly by a floor or two beneath her, apparently too engrossed in her sick, twisted game of catch to notice her. Then she made her second big mistake of the day. She looked down . . . down . . . and down some more. She still had a few more moments before she was going to do what she came here for, which in retrospect was a good thing, because she was starting to realize how insane this idea really was. She wasn't afraid of heights, or even the fall really. As she felt her knees start to shake, she said out loud, "It's the sudden stop at the end if I am wrong on my timing that bothers me." For a moment, she thought she heard the logical part of her mind say sarcastically, 'Ya sure this is the only way?'

Suddenly she saw the timer start to flash. T -10 seconds. 9, 8, 7 . . . Ami backed up several feet, then ran at the window at full speed. She felt herself try to stop an instant after the absolute last second to wait for the Sekkou to make another pass. As she saw the timer say T +1 second, she actually swore loudly in the hall way because she realized it was too late. Her momentum wouldn't allow her even to slow down at this point. As she felt the glass shatter around her, she couldn't help but think how bad her luck was going when she felt gravity grip her and start pulling her toward the ground. She was a full second behind her calculations! All she could do now was scream and hope that whatever divine spirit was listening would answer her prayers.

* * *

The effects of Amy's water poisoning surprise attack were only temporary, and Makoto felt herself start to come back to reality somewhere above the 35th floor. She could feel the wind ripping at her body, and the strange feeling of her feet flying back in the air with nothing to touch. She opened her eyes and saw her current predicament and started to scream out in sheer terror.

Realizing her passenger was awake, Lita said teasingly, "What's the matter? Don't like heights? Remember, it's not the fall, it's the sudden stop!" Then, looking around as she swung around the side of the building at nearly a 90 degree angle, she saw another one of her teammates. "Hey Amara!" Lita said, laughing, "catch!" Then she threw Makoto as hard as she could, watching as her twin's limbs flailed about in panic and her irritating scream grew distant as gravity took hold of Makoto causing her to plummet toward the ground before reaching Amara.

Makoto couldn't even think straight as perhaps her greatest fear played out in front of her. This experience would be enough to scare anyone, but it was even worse for someone terrified of flying. She was falling through the air so fast that the wind blowing against her face actually hurt. She felt both weightless and heavy at the same time. She felt terrified. She felt like she was going to be sick again.

Amara dove down and grabbed Makoto by the arm roughly, soaring back into the air, then without a word, she swung her in a circle a few times, and let go, watching and listening with mild satisfaction as Makoto once again screamed her head off. Amy caught her this time, but wasn't quite able to hold them both in the air.

They slowly started to descend as Amy, laughing hysterically, listened to Makoto beg for mercy. "No, please! Stop this! I don't care if you kill me, just put me down!" Instead, laughing even louder as she did so, Amy simply let her go and watched as Ray and Mina, who had been flying at a lower level, flew up to meet Makoto, grabbed both her arms, jerking her back into the air once again to a higher level. They flew circles around the building several times as fast as they could while holding Makoto, then let her go, watching as she fell like a rock through the air until Trista and Hotaru caught her.

Dark Saturn and Pluto flew several feet higher than the building with Makoto, spinning around in a barrel roll as they ascended, clearly doing their best to make the terrified Senshi either sick or pass out. Then, after making several loops above the building, they let Makoto go and watched as she fell back toward the earth, passing the roof of the building, then several floors, until Lita once again caught her. Her screams seemed to delight the Sekkou to no end. The only one not participating in the game of catch was Dark Moon. She stood on the roof, waiting for the others to stop playing with Makoto and join her to bring this sick twisted game to its violent and bloody end.

Makoto was actually crying by this point. She couldn't _ever_ remember being this scared. Part of her wanted to push away from Lita to get away from her and this sick twisted torture, but part of her was too afraid of the fall and the thought of soaring through the air, or rather, falling, to do that. So instead she just curled up into a ball as best she could while being held, begging for them to have mercy on her and put her down on solid ground again. She was so scared she was seriously even considering making them an offer to let them kill her if they would just stop tormenting her. It was beyond cruel to Makoto.

Lita laughed as if it were all just a game and Makoto were being as unreasonable as a child afraid of a mild thunderstorm. She said teasingly, " Aw, what's the matter, you little crybaby? Not having any fun?" After she finished speaking, she heard the sound of breaking glass and someone screaming either in anger, terror or both. She looked around trying to find the source of the sound, then looked up just in time to see Ami slam into her, and then felt shards of glass slash into her. She let go of Makoto, but Ami, still screaming, wrapped one arm around Lita's waist, and held onto Makoto's arm as Makoto held onto Lita's legs for dear life.

Just as Ami had planned, her added mass was simply too much for Lita to carry along with both of them, and all three slowly started to descend. By now, the other Sekkou had figured out what was going on, and were diving down to catch up with them. Instead of waiting for them to catch up, Lita, unable to get Makoto or Ami to let go, dove down quicker, then twisted them all in the air as she started to spin, altering their course so that they slammed through another window, landing back inside the tower on the 38th floor.

Lita, Ami, and Makoto discovered the hard way that this area of the building was office space, in the case of this floor, mostly a giant cube farm, as they smashed through several cubicles when the three separated after Lita smacked into the ground. Several of the office's staff started running to exits in confusion and fear. One of the more intelligent and less panicked associates pulled the fire alarm to alert all the employees in the area to evacuate.

Ami groaned a bit as she pushed a cubicle wall off of her and stood up. As the last of the terrified staff ran for the exits and stairs, she became worried when she couldn't see anyone, because the cubicle walls that still stood near her blocked her view. She reached up and pulled herself up so she could see over the walls. At first ,she saw nothing but the maze-like pattern all the cubicles made. Suddenly, she saw a face dart up from behind another cubicle several stalls away from her. "Makoto?" she asked, sounding relived. "Are you all right?"

The other smiled, then the moment Ami noticed the titanium tiara instead of a gold one, Lita yelled out, "_**Electric Shock Thera **_-- ack!" The cubicle wall behind Lita smashed into her as Makoto jumped up into view in the cubicle behind Lita, and beat the wall into Ami's would-be attacker.

Clearly enraged, and still not thinking clearly from the adrenaline and now fear turned liquid anger, Makoto yelled out, as her small antenna rose from its hiding space on her tiara, "_**Super Supreme Thunder**_!" Electricity smashed into Lita, but because Makoto was so close, she was also partially electrocuted, and the resulting blast threw her to the far end of the office, away from both Lita and Ami.

The short distraction gave Ami enough time to open her communicator. As soon as Sailor Mars responded, Ami said, glancing at the elevator which had the floor number painted near it, "Get to the 38th floor as fast as you can!" Then, without waiting for an answer, she turned off the device, just in time for a nearby window to smash inward as Dark Saturn came through it, glaring angrily at Ami as she gracefully touched down on the floor.

* * *

Sailor Mars could climb stairs without any effort, since she had plenty of practice at home every day she walked up the ones leading to the shrine. Running as fast as she could up the stairs, she announced to the others, "They're on the 38th floor! Where are we?"

Hotaru took the moment to stop on the next landing she came to so she could take a breath as she looked at the plaque on the door. "29th." Then she wheezed out, "Can we please use an elevator?"

Sprinting past her with almost no effort, Haruka answered, "By the time one got down or up to us, there wouldn't be enough time. Besides, the exercise will do you good!"

As the others ran past her, Sailor Moon stopped and stood with Hotaru, breathing loudly. "They can't expect us to keep up for 10 more floors!"

Holding her sides for a moment, Hotaru said, "Nine floors, but yeah, it might as well be 10." Taking one last breath, she said, "Well, we better get going!" Then she took off after the others.

Practically dragging herself up each stair, Usagi begged, "Wait for me!"

A second later, Usagi's blue eyes opened wide in surprise. Her friends had turned around and were coming back! Smiling happily, she squealed, "Thanks guys! I knew I could count on you! I-- Whoa hey!" She yelped the last part out in shock as Haruka stopped just long enough to pick her up and throw her over her shoulder before running back down the stairs as fast as she could.

Then Sailor Moon saw why her friends were running back the direction they had come. As the first of the crowd of stampeding office staff made there way down the stairs Usagi let out a terrified scream, which Haruka took as a sign she needed to run even faster.

* * *

Trista, still welding her Silent Glaive, strode down the row of cubicles toward Ami purposefully and confidently. "Mighty brave rescue attempt, woman." She jumped into the air and flew toward Ami, shrieking, "Now let's find out how brave you really are!" Ami wasn't quick enough to avoid the collision as Dark Saturn slammed into her, throwing Ami over the edge of yet another cubicle wall behind her. She landed in the middle of a path leading straight to an elevator. Her attacker touched down behind her, allowing her a clear shot at the doors to safety.

"Since you are so brave, I will make a deal with you. I will let you go, without any attempt to stop you." Then, smiling evilly, she added, "Or, you can stay here and die. Leave Makoto to her fate. If you stay, you will both perish. After all, she would prefer herself to die instead of you." Gesturing toward the elevator, she finished, "Go on, go. You're free. You don't have to die today."

Ami gradually got to her feet, never letting her eyes leave Trista's. The sounds of the ongoing fight between Lita and Makoto could be heard echoing through the large room. "No, I would rather die than let you hurt her." Seeing no other options left to her, Ami decided to face down Dark Sailor Saturn on her own. "If you want to harm her, you will have to deal with me first."

Giving Ami an unfriendly smile, the tall woman said, "I was hoping you would say that." Before Ami could even react once again, Trista blasted her with a powerful ball of energy, and watched as Ami fell to the ground in agony. Then she strolled casually up to Ami, who was trying to get back onto her feet. Dark Saturn gave Sailor Mercury a rough kick, causing the smaller woman to spin, then land on her stomach. Then, as if to hold her in place, Trista raised her right foot, and jammed her heal into the center of Ami's back. Ami yelled out in pain as she tried to reach around with one hand to move the Sekkou's foot away.

Lita had put Makoto in a headlock, then forced her against a wall next to a door, pinning her there so she couldn't move. Suddenly, Makoto heard Ami yell out and looked over to see Trista raise her weapon, twirl it around for a moment, then stopped it so the blade was pointing down toward what she assumed was Ami's back. She wouldn't even see it coming. Ami had risked everything to save her, and now suddenly Ami was about to be . . . "No!" was all Makoto could think to yell out in anguish in a feeble attempt to stop Trista from what she was about to do. Makoto strained her arms as if trying to reach out to Ami futilely. It quickly dawned on her that the only assistance she would be able to give would be to watch in horror.

Trista glanced at Makoto without moving her head, and said, "Patience, my friend. First her, then you." Letting her smile grow larger as she said quietly to Ami, almost as if it were supposed to be reassuring, "You chose your destiny, now die with the consequences." She raised the staff up over her head then swung it down quickly, intending to embed its sharp tip deep into Ami's back, yelling out as she felt the feeling of victory surge through her.

* * *

_**Author's Note: 180,000 Japanese Yen is equal to 1,483.92 U.S. Dollars, or 1,101.32 Euros**_


	13. Chapter 13 Down the Rabbit Hole

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 13: Down the Rabbit Hole**

To Trista, her moment of glory felt like it was proceeding in slow motion and she wanted to savor every instant of it. She could feel her fingers gripping her weapon as it plunged down. Feel her soon to be vanquished foe squirming in pain and terror, like a worm on a hook beneath her foot. Feel Makoto's eyes watching her. Feel the air rushing out of her lungs as she yelled out in triumph. She so enjoyed taking a person's life. To her, it was the ultimate form of power. In a way, it was what she lived for.

Trista was so focused on the joy of the kill that she hadn't noticed the elevator doors open. "_**Venus Love-Me Chain**_!" At the last possible instant, Minako tossed the chain of light sending it smashing into Trista's glaive, causing Trista to momentarily lose her balance and sending her weapon flying through the air, then embedding itself into a far wall.

Sailor Venus emerged from the elevator at a run toward Dark Saturn, ready to defend her friend. At the same moment, on the other side of the cube farm, the door next to Lita and Makoto swung open, smacking into Lita's back, hard. Haruka had given the door a powerful kick, and the rest of the senshi rushed into the room. As if it were planned that way, the remaining Sekkou also decided to make their entrance, smashing through the office windows, sending glass flying in every direction.

Regaining her balance, Trista kicked Ami aside, discarding her for her new opponent. As she charged Minako, fully intent on tearing the blonde apart with her own bare hands, Minako started to power up another attack to defend herself. When Trista had covered half the distance to Minako, a staff came out of nowhere to crash against Dark Saturn's jaw, sending her toppling backwards to the ground.

Minako looked over to the direction where the person who had swung the staff was still standing. Seeing Sailor Pluto there, she said happily, "Thanks, Setsuna!" Setsuna didn't have time to answer as she rushed off to continue her duel with Dark Pluto.

Minako stepped over the barely conscious Dark Saturn and helped Ami to her feet. Ami accepted the hand her friend offered and asked as she stood up, "When did you get here? I thought you wouldn't be able to get free 'til around noon."

Smiling, Minako said, "The radio station isn't far from here, so when Ritsuko's shopping trip got cut short by your fight, she came straight to the station claiming to feel better. From the looks of the shopping plaza, somebody had fun!" Then, switching to a more serious mood as the two ran to help Makoto, she said, "So what's the situation?"

"The Sekkou are trying to kill us, but they apparently need our bodies in decent condition. That's all we know at this point. Our goal is to try to capture one of them alive for questioning and retreat." Ami spoke just loud enough for Minako to hear as the two ran.

It took Sailor Venus every ounce of discipline she had not to stop where she was. Waving her arms and sounding surprised she said, "That's crazy! You're going to have to explain what I missed later."

The two were halfway to Makoto when Mina, seemingly out of nowhere, landed several feet in front of them, blocking their path, glaring directly at Minako. They slid to a halt, and Minako leaned toward Ami, whispering, "Go help your girlfriend. I'll handle her."

Ami nodded once and backtracked the way she had come while trying to navigate the maze of cubicles to find another way to Makoto. This was becoming an increasingly easy task, since every time one of them used an attack it flattened a new path. Of course, it also made it more difficult to walk, let alone run, since it also sprawled damaged office supplies, computers, ceiling tiles, and of course, cubicle walls everywhere as well. Minako found it a little amusing that as Ami turned round a corner, she nearly disappeared behind the five foot tall cubicle walls.

Minako snapped her attention back to her opponent when she spoke. Nodding toward the direction Ami had gone, she said, "Your friend is an admirable woman. She withstands pain rather well. Let's see how well you measure up." As she spoke, a straight beam of light formed in her hands, then somehow loosened into a flexible cord. Apparently, Mina's version of Minako's love me chain was more like a whip. She twirled it around her on the ground as she swung the end she was holding slowly above her. Then with speed Minako could barely comprehend, Mina sent it cracking at Minako, missing her by inches as it slammed into another cubicle in the cube farm.

Sailor Venus ducked instinctively, and was glad her opponent missed since she was entirely too slow to have dodged the attack had she not. As she rolled for cover, she watched as the stricken section of wall slid apart, almost perfectly cut in half. She was about to yell out one of her 'improved' puns, but forgot what she was about to say when another crack of Dark Venus's whip ripped through the wall behind her, cutting into the ground next to her. Minako's eyes went wide as she watched the deadly weapon slide away like a snake as her opponent pulled it back again, probably readying it for yet another strike.

Before either of them could attack again, a tremendous explosion rocked the entire floor, causing a section of the ceiling to collapse and knocking everyone off their feet. As Minako stood back up, she realized the source of the explosion must have come from either Sailor Mars, Dark Mars, or (most likely) both of them, because by the time she had gotten back to her feet, half the room had burst into flames. The smell of burning metal and melting plastic filled the room as the temperature shot up shockingly quick setting off the sprinklers. The water doused some of the flames, sending up choking clouds of smoke, making it impossible to see or breathe.

Minako dropped to her hands and knees and crawled along the floor back in the direction she had come, trying to make her way to the elevator. She clicked on her communicator when she realized her attacker had given up the fight for her own safety. She could only rasp out one word because she was coughing so hard from the fumes. "Retreat!" The fight had suddenly become pointless since no one could see, and if they didn't get out of here soon, the smoke and toxic fumes would probably kill them all.

Meanwhile, the Sekkou had gotten the same idea as Minako. Like her double, Mina had given them the order to retreat. Lita flew out one of the shattered windows to join the rest of her companions hovering outside the building. It didn't take her long to realize after she cleared the smoke billowing from the windows that one of them was missing. She looked around and said, somewhat distressed, "Where's Amy?"

Dark Moon spoke, trying to calm her. "We tried her communicator several times already. We were hoping she was with you."

Lita didn't even think. She spun around in the air and started to head back into the smoke without any thought for her own safety. She only stopped when Amara and Trista both flew over to her and yanked her back. "Don't be a fool!" Amara said angrily to Lita.

Lita, still struggling to get free, said, clearly furious by being blocked, "But she's still in there! We can't -- "

Ray cut her off, flying in front of her to grab Lita's shoulders, and shook her hard to get her attention. "Shut up and listen to me!" When Lita stopped struggling for a moment and glared into Ray's eyes, she continued. "We think she probably opened her portal and left rather than meet up out here. The smoke was so thick in there she probably realized she couldn't find her way out. Now, I need you to -- "

Lita shouted at the top of her lungs, "No thanks to you! We have to -- " She was cut off by Mina sending a sharp slap across the tallest scout's face.

"Get ahold of yourself," Mina said angrily. "We are going to go back through the portal and see if Mars is correct. Amy is a cunning, resourceful woman. I'm sure she is okay regardless of where she is. If we don't find her in our universe, I promise you we will come back and search for her at the first opportunity." Turning back to watch flames shoot out of the windows, Mina said, "Besides, we don't have a choice now." With that, the Sekkou activated a portal and disappeared inside it with their reluctant companion in tow.

Minako thought she heard Makoto say something over her communicator, but she hadn't caught what it was. At the moment it would have to wait since she was still crawling across the floor trying to reach safety. Minako knew using the elevator during a fire wasn't the best of ideas, but the smoke was so thick she wasn't sure she could find a stairway quick enough. Once she reached the elevator, she brought her hand up and smacked the button to close the door, then pressed the button for the first floor. She coughed a few more times as she rolled onto her back, taking a moment to relax. As the elevator lowered, the thick black smoke slowly cleared and she realized she wasn't alone. Rei and Hotaru had also made it to the same elevator.

At first Minako had thought the two were Sekkou, because their uniforms looked black, but then she realized the color of their uniforms was from all the greasy soot caked on them. "Did the others make it out?" Minako asked, still coughing.

Hotaru answered from where she was sitting on the floor in the far corner of the elevator, after taking several breaths of air. "The others went down the stairway we came out of, except for Ami and Makoto. They . . ."

"They decided to do something really stupid." Rei angrily finished for her. Then, with a guilty expression on her face, she said, "I was fighting my double when we both fired off an attack. The two attacks struck each other somehow causing an explosion that, aside for setting the place on fire, knocked a support beam from the ceiling." She looked at Minako then said, "When it fell, it pinned down Dark Mercury. Makoto and Ami were close by and decided to try to get her out both to accomplish our goal and because Ami simply didn't feel right about leaving her to die regardless of what she has done. I tried to tell them to leave, but they wouldn't listen."

Minako sat up, clicked on her communicator and said quietly, "Ami, are you there?" After a few moments she asked, "Makoto? Can you hear me?" When silence again greeted her she yelled out with a shaky voice, "Damn it! Will one of you answer me!"

Ami's image appeared on the screen after several tense moments. She unwrapped her nose and mouth which had been covered by what was probably a section of her skirt she had ripped off and covered with water to allow herself to breath. "We're safe. We are going down a stairway on our way to the basement. Try to make your way to the subway station and find a place away from prying eyes. We will meet you there. " Preparing herself for the reprimand she knew was coming for not following orders from their leader, she said nervously, "I'm sorry, Minako-chan. Please don't be upset with Makoto. It was my idea. I felt we needed answers too badly to let the opportunity past us." Shrugging her shoulders, she added, "Besides, it just didn't set well with me leaving her to burn alive." Ami looked at something off the screen for a moment, then added, "Even if she deserves it."

Minako sighed and let herself lay back down for a moment. Then she said, loud enough for Ami to hear her, "I guess that's the difference between us and them. If the situation had been reversed, they would have left you to die." After a pause, Minako said, "The important thing is that you're both okay. Next time I tell you to fall back, you do it, you understand? See you in a few minutes." Then Minako clicked off her communicator.

As the elevator continued down to its destination, Hotaru couldn't help but be grateful for the small fact that at least they didn't have to take the stairs.

* * *

Haruka said to the other person on the other end of the phone line, "Yes, hello? I'd like to report two stolen vehicles." Then after the dispatcher asked her a question, Haruka said, "A yellow 2003 TVR Cerbera, license plate number 10-25K and a blue 2001 Honda Acura, plate number 1701-A." The sandy blonde haired woman blinked a few times, momentarily perplexed by the dispatcher's next comment. "Ehhhh . . . no," Haruka replied, "the blue one is my friend's car. That would make _her_ the 'trekkie'." The two went back and forth answering questions, then once the dispatcher had finished filing their report, Haruka turned off her cell phone and walked back down into the subway to join the rest of the senshi and their captive.

The subway was empty and would probably remain so since this stop had temporarily been taken out of service while the police and firefighters above began their work. Makoto had tied Amy's hands behind her back and around a hand rail against the wall at the bottom of the stairs leading up to street level to keep her from escaping while they talked to her.

So far, Amy hadn't said anything, almost as if she preferred them to start the conversation. She just glared back at each of them with a stare colder than ice. The Senshi, for their part, kept whispering short conversations back and forth to each other, trying to figure out what to do with their prisoner. They had never had a captive before and weren't quite sure what to do with her. Plus, to make things even more awkward, they really hadn't had enough time to think about what exactly they were going to say to her.

Ami finally broke the silence, deciding that simply getting to the point was the best place to start. "We have several questions we would like to ask you. I suppose we should ask you the first one on our minds, which is, why do you wish to terminate us?"

"Why should I answer you?" Amy shot back as Ami was finishing the last word in her question. "The less you know, the more of an advantage we have." Smiling as she continued, she said, "It's not like you're going to hurt me if I don't talk anyway. If I don't talk the worst you can do is wait for my friends to come back and get me, and let me tell you, they can be persistent."

Makoto had been silent ever since they had saved Amy from her fate. She hadn't wanted to save her at all and only did so because Ami had taken pity on her. If it had been up to Makoto alone, Amy would have been left to die. The woman had caused Ami so much pain before, and in Makoto's mind leaving her to die would have been better than she deserved, not to mention it also would have removed part of the threat they now faced. She wanted to beat the living daylights out of the Sekkou of Mercury whether or not she spoke. She said quietly, but unable to hide the anger in her voice, "We saved your life. That should entitle us to some information out of you at least."

Dark Mercury laughed, then said happily, "That you did." Then she looked over at Ami and said, smiling, "He, Ami! Sie sprechen German ja? Wie steht's mit etwas Information über Sie, ja? Denken Sie, dass sie lieben würden, die Geschichte über das erste Mal zu hören, als Sie von Ihrem Gesichtspunkt starben?" Her smile got a little larger as she finished, "Ich denke, dass Makoto es sehr interessant tatsächlich finden würde. Was sagen Sie?"

The comment was clearly meant to get a reaction out of Ami, since she was the only one among them that spoke German. Ami suddenly got a look of anger with a touch of panic to her face as she glanced at Makoto, then back at Dark Mercury, finally replying back, "_Nein!_ Sie können nicht ihnen darüber erzählen! Das ist zu persönlich!" Whatever Dark Mercury had just said, it was obvious Ami didn't want the others to know.

Dark Mercury opened her mouth to say something, but Ami walked closer and surprised everyone by slapping Amy in a fit of rage, intent on not allowing her to speak. Ami said rapidly, "Ich werde nicht Sie diese Befragung kontrollieren lassen. Sie werden auf _unsere_ Fragen antworten!" Then Ami grabbed their prisoner by her collar, clearly distressed, and yelled out, "_**Sie verstehen mich**_?!" Her voice echoed loudly for a moment in the cavernous space before she felt arms grab her and pull her away quickly. The other Senshi had realized Ami's temper did have limits and weren't entirely sure what Ami was going to do.

As Haruka and Setsuna pulled Ami off her double, Ami protested loudly, "Don't listen to her! She is trying to gain control of the situation in the worst possible way!"

"You want information, Mako-chan?" Amy laughed out, "I'll give you information. Did Ami ever tell you the story about what happened to her when those Yoma killed her before Usagi faced Beryl?" Smiling, she said quieter, "You were dead at the time, so I doubt you know it unless she told you." Noticing she had everyone's attention, she said, clearly restraining laughter, "It is after all unpleasant to talk about one's own death."

Ami looked at Makoto and said, pleading, "Makoto, please don't . . ."

Makoto raised her hand so it was facing behind her toward where Haruka and Setsuna were holding Ami. The gesture's meaning was clear. Be quiet. Once everyone was silent again she said, "I want to hear this."

Amy leaned back a moment, closing her eyes as she thought back. Then she looked into Makoto's eyes as if searching for something. "Our history isn't much different from yours. The pivotal change is mostly when Serena fought Beryl. Therefore, it is a good bet that my experience was nearly identical to your own. My story I am about to tell you is about Ami, and her greatest moment of weakness."

Tilting her head to the side, gesturing toward Sailor Moon, Ami continued, "After you died, Usagi actually suggested that we give Beryl the Ginzuishou. Can you believe that? Just give it to her, just like that! All out of guilt because you," Amy nodded her head to indicate she was talking to Makoto, "sacrificed yourself to keep that from happening. Naturally, I slapped her as hard as I could, in an attempt to knock some sense into her."

Usagi, with a look of shame on her face, reached up and gently rubbed her own cheek as the memory came back to her all too clearly. So quietly that no one actually heard her, she said, "I deserved it."

Realizing her comment had caused a reaction from one of her audience members, the scout continued. "I remember saying afterward, 'Jupiter's death must not be in vain,' or something to that effect . . . I don't remember honestly the exact words. It was after all, back when we were all in junior high which was about --"

"Get to the point," Makoto said, clenching her fists as she glared at the woman. Makoto was so engrossed in the story that she didn't even realize Amy had been telling it as if she were Ami.

Looking truthfully sad at the memory, Amy continued again, ignoring the rude interruption. "I told the others to let me hold them off while they made their way to fight Queen Beryl. I promised Usagi that I wouldn't die." Biting her lower lip for a moment as depressing thoughts ran through her mind, Amy said quietly, "In reality, that was exactly what I wanted to happen at that point."

Makoto didn't let her eyes leave Amy's as she asked out loud, "Is this true?"

Before Ami could answer, Dark Mercury spoke for her. Her voice was a strange mixture of anger and sadness. "Of course it is." Straining her arms as she tried to wave them in frustration, she yelled, "I couldn't bear the thought of living without you. So I decided to let myself be killed in a meaningful way rather than to even attempt to go another day without you. It seemed to be . . . the honorable thing to do, and the best way to . . . end my suffering. It was a truly cowardly act, in a moment of despair and weakness."

Makoto turned around to look at her new girlfriend and said quietly, "Ami?"

Ami could almost feel all of her friends looking at her. She had her head turned so it was facing the wall with her eyes squeezed shut and her arms wrapped around herself. She had the look of someone who wanted nothing more than to just disappear all together. "It's true. I didn't show it, but I was distraught. I was weak, a coward, and I was scared. I was too young to realize how . . . permanent my decision would have been if things had gone differently and we weren't brought back to life." Ami kept her eyes closed. She didn't want to see her friends looking at her. No doubt, they must be disgusted with her for being so weak.

After a few more moments, she felt a hand gently touch her chin and guide it so her face was turned forward. When Ami opened her cobalt blue eyes, they met Makoto's emerald green ones as they looked at her. To Ami's surprise, Makoto had a smile on her face. Once she realized she had Ami's attention, Jupiter said happily, "You know, it would have been a lot simpler if you had just told me how you felt. I mean, It's sweet that you felt you had to play out the ending of Romeo and Juliet because of me, bu -- "

Her words were cut off by Ami burying her face in Makoto's shoulder as she squeezed her close, both for comfort and to hide her tears. The entire event was something she had tried to keep a secret from Makoto for what seemed like forever since she felt so strangely guilty about it. Ami's muffled voice asked, clearly relieved, "You mean you're not mad at me?"

"Of course we're not. We all have our secrets we would like to keep," said Michiru. "I wasn't there, but from what little I have heard about those events, even if you hadn't sacrificed yourself, the outcome would have probably been the same anyway. Plus, you were young, and you sound like you have learned your lesson. Everyone has their moments when they are weak and vulnerable. You're a strong person, Ami. You should never doubt that."

After a few more moments of silence, Minako cleared her throat and said quietly, so as not to sound too harsh, but loud enough to accomplish her goal of getting everyone else's attention, "I hate to ruin the moment, but uh . . . this is an interrogation."

As if in agreement, Dark Mercury groaned out, "Oh please, spare me." Then she started to rhythmically smack the back of her head against the wall in frustration. She had thought for sure that that bit of 'information' would have caused a rift of some kind amongst the team against Ami. Obviously she had been wrong. Between thuds she said bitterly, "Man, this just isn't my day."

Taking one last instant to pull herself together, Ami wiped her eyes and backed away from Makoto. As her cheeks turned a slight pink color, and sounding more than a little embarrassed by her emotional outburst, she said, "Uh . . . right." Ami had always been good about controlling, and even suppressing her emotions, but it seemed to her that about four weeks ago that had become more and more difficult to do. She wasn't sure if it was stress from when she was captured, her budding relationship with Makoto, repressed sexual tension, the fact she was getting older, or any combination of reasons for that matter. The one thing she was sure of, was that there was probably a long technical name for it in psychology, and it was starting to embarrass her.

Setting her emotions aside, she switched on her visor as she turned her attention back to the Sekkou. "If you won't talk, we can still get some information out of you using nonverbal methods that don't necessarily have to be violent. It won't be as useful as answering our questions, but it is better than nothing." Analyzing something always made Ami feel more confident and helped to calm her nerves a bit. It helped that the subject matter in front of her, from a scientific standpoint, was rather fascinating.

A new wire mesh of Amy appeared on her visor, this one showing considerably more detail about her than the ones Ami had used to track the Sekkou during their flight around the building. Charts and graphs as well as detailed analytical information scrolled across her screen as the visor began its analysis of their opponent.

Ami began stating the information as if she were talking to a science professor. "Her deoxyribonucleic acid is nearly identical to mine, but not an exact copy. The variant in her DNA would be considered strange in any human being . . . or, for that matter, nearly any organism alive. In normal DNA, we only have four base nucleotides, adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine. These pair up in a long sequence to form the DNA molecules in all living things. Hers, however, has an extra pair that appears seemingly randomly throughout her DNA pattern. The visor interprets this pair as XX. In short, this is the visor's way of saying the particular pair of nucleotides cannot be analyzed."

Ami looked at the others and realized her explanation was a little too technical, so she reworded it in layman's terms. "In other words, someone altered her on a genetic level in ways I can't even begin to understand."

Ami got a chorus of "Oh's" in response.

Sailor Mercury continued her scan of their enemy, and for her part, Dark Mercury stayed quiet as she listened to find out what they found out. Sometimes the best way to do damage control when someone finds out your secrets is to find out what they know so that you know what they know. Ami understood this, but she felt letting the others know right now was more important than waiting until later to digest the information since she had no idea how much or little time they had before the other Sekkou realized what had happened to their missing member and came back to fetch her.

"Physically, she is nearly identical to me, aside from a place on her left arm, right leg, and the upper right frontal quadrant of her skull where it appears she sustained severe damage at some point in the past. Muscle structure and strength are the same, as well as internal organs. Her brain waves are different, probably because of different methods of thought. Energy patterns are the same as mine, but are aligned differently, and slightly more powerful, which probably is what results in her attacks being more aggressive than my own, and giving her the ability to fly." Ami stopped speaking for a moment and made another adjustment to her visor. "There also seems to be another energy . . . spike. I don't think it is coming directly from her though. Perhaps something she is wearing?"

As Ami said the last comment, Dark Mercury tucked her chin down as far as she could, glaring at Ami as if daring her to continue. Ami took a step closer, and Dark Mercury tried to kick at her for a moment as if defending herself, but Ami was still out of reach. The scout said angrily, "I'm warning you, stay back." Then she smiled and said, only being slightly sarcastic, "I bite."

Lost in the sea of information she was reading, Ami said quietly, "Good point." Then she turned her head and said, "Haruka, would you be so kind as to hold her chin up? There is something I'd like to get a closer look at."

"With pleasure," Haruka said as she cracked her knuckles. She walked over to Amy and as she expected, Dark Mercury tried to kick again. Haruka expertly blocked the kick with her own leg. When Amy realized that wasn't going to work, she sunk to the ground as low as she could in an effort to keep away from Haruka. Sailor Uranus grabbed Amy by her collar and lifted her back to her feet. Then she used her leg to hold both of Amy's in place and her free hand to force her head up so that Amy was now looking nearly straight up.

Dark Mercury watched as best she could while Sailor Mercury walked calmly up to her. Almost like a child fascinated by a small shiny object, Ami reached out and unfastened Amy's choker. Like her own, Amy's choker had an ornamental star on the front of it held in place by blue fabric. The only visible appearance was that Amy's was titanium in color instead of gold. However, it wasn't the visible difference that had captivated Ami's attention, and Dark Mercury knew it.

"Don't touch that!" The Sekkou screeched out, not trying to hide her distress. As Ami continued to examine the choker, Amy screamed, "You fool! Give that back! You have no idea what that is!"

Almost as if Amy's words were nothing but a stray thought in her mind, Ami, with her voice full of fascination, said softly, "You're right, I don't. It's amazing just the same though. It appears to have more energy at its disposal than you do. Over ten times more." Still peering through her visor, Ami brought the small object close to her face, studying it a moment more. Then she moved away from the group several feet, still apparently lost in thought. As an afterthought she said, "You can let go of her now, Haruka."

Amy didn't put up a fight when Haruka stepped back. She still had her eyes locked on Mercury as she said a warning. "For all of our safety, I highly advise you to put that down." She emphasized the last word by stomping one of her feet.

Makoto looked at Ami from where she stood and said, sounding concerned, "Be careful, Ami."

Ami ignored both of them, lost in thought. A few of the senshi started to move toward her, but Ami held up a hand to have them stop. "Amazing. I wonder . . ." was all Ami could say as she kept reading the information scrolling across her visor. Finally, she held the star in the palm of her hand and gently pressed the front of it with a finger. As soon as she did it, there was a flash of light, and then a portal opened up in front of her. Its familiar purple outline with a dark black center was familiar to the Senshi. It was the same one the Sekkou used to escape. All of the Senshi except Mercury jumped in surprise, and a few of them rushed toward her for a moment thinking it had been some kind of attack. Once they realized what it was, they stopped, but watched the portal cautiously as if it were a monster come to attack them.

Ami blinked a few times as her visor fired several more messages across her view. "The portal has an event horizon. That's why we see black in the center. We can't see any of the light traveling through our side or the other. It's a . . . miniature black hole? That wouldn't make any sense. If that's what it is, the entire planet would have been sucked in by now." Then Ami switched off her visor and stepped closer to the portal looking at it with her own eyes. Sounding for all the world like Haruka admiring the latest model of sports car, Ami said in awe, "It's a wormhole." The portal was absolutely fascinating from a scientific standpoint to Ami. She had seen several different portals since she had become a Senshi, but had never gotten the chance to see one up close and study one.

"A what?" Usagi said, sounding confused. Then she cringed as she said, "You mean a giant worm is going to come out of there?"

Ami, now inches from the portal, laughed as she shook her head at Usagi's question, and said, oblivious to the fact that the rest of the Senshi had barely understood most of what she had said so far, "No, I mean it's a hole through space and time. They can travel vast dis -- " Ami screamed out in surprise, suddenly stopping herself in the middle of her explanation. A black gloved hand had shot out of the portal and latched onto her wrist. Ami frantically tried to pull the hand away, as her friends rushed toward her to help free her.

Makoto had nearly reached Ami, so she lunged toward her, but it was too late. Sailor Mercury was yanked off her feet and through the portal a mere fraction of a second before anyone could reach her. Almost instantly, there was another bright flash of light, and Ami's screaming abruptly silenced as the portal closed behind her, leaving the rest of the Senshi and their prisoner in stunned silence as Makoto crashed into the ground empty handed.


	14. Chapter 14 Trading Places

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 14: Trading Places**

Ami felt a sharp pain in her shoulder as she was jerked off the ground by the hand that had latched onto her arm like a vise-grip. She yelled out in surprise, panic, and pain, and was blinded by a bright flash of light.

Then she felt her body fly through the air and felt her stomach start to do somersaults when she realized she wasn't going to hit the ground quite when she had expected. Instead of merely landing on the ground, she was falling. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness just enough for her to tell she had been thrown down a flight of wire steel stairs. She watched as the steps flew by underneath her, until her body hit a wall, then she fell on a landing, sending a loud clanging sound ringing through the room. Next, the momentum from her fall caused her to roll down the next flight of stairs, the sounds of vibrating metal and the sensation of pain every time her body came in contact with a step suddenly overriding all thought.

Ami normally would have known that what she was about to do next was a bad idea, but the current situation unfolded so fast that she didn't have time to think. Acting on reflex and the desire to stop the pain and the world from spinning, she stretched out her left arm to try to stop her movement. As she rolled down to the next step, She heard a loud, wet, cracking sound and screamed out again as a new wave of pain in her arm ripped through her senses, suddenly making the rest of the impacts with the stairs unnoticeable by comparison. Then, just as suddenly as she had started, she came to a stop, lying on her side. After a few seconds, her first coherent thought was that she was on the ground, and that she hadn't realized it was possible to experience so much pain that one literally could not think. From start to finish, the fall had taken only a few seconds, but it had seemed to be an eternity to Ami.

Still dazed, she reflexively moved her right hand to cover her upper left arm where it hurt. The moment she felt her fingers touch, she clenched her teeth together as hard as she could to suppress another yelp of pain. Judging from the level of discomfort, and the odd angle she now realized her left arm was twisted in, her left humerus had almost certainly been fractured in the fall. She didn't think it was a compound fracture, though, since the bone hadn't broken through the skin as far as she could tell. Regardless, it hurt like hell. She was just grateful that it wasn't her right arm.

A voice from above her asked with some concern, "Are you all right?"

As Ami looked around for the source of the voice, she realized that she was in perhaps the worst possible of situations. Now that the world had steadied itself, and she was becoming aware of her surroundings, she could tell she had left the subway station, and for that matter, her very version of reality.

She was at the bottom of a large, dark room made primarily of steel. Various colors of utility and floor lights as well as computer monitors were the room's only supply of dim light. Pipes and catwalks ran seemingly in every direction. Most of the computers were connected by copper and plastic conduits. Wires crisscrossed the room, and vents hissed out various types of steam. Some of the steam crossed paths with red lights, causing the room to somewhat resemble a metallic version of hell. Despite that, the room was actually a little on the cooler side temperature-wise.

She let her gaze follow the stairs back up the direction she had come from. At the top of the stairs was a platform with several work stations, high tech computers, and a ten foot tall frame structure with wires and indication lights all over it. Ami figured that was probably the portal generator, for lack of a better name for the strange device. Standing in front of the machine was the owner of the arm that had pulled her into this predicament.

Dark Sailor Moon had a small duffel bag slung over her shoulder and was leaning over the railing, looking down at Ami. "I do apologize for the manner of your abduction. It was one of those now or never kind of things." She shrugged, then added, "Guess you could say, timing was everything." Then she vaulted over the side of the railing and landed in front of Ami, helping her to her feet.

Once she was standing, Ami backed away, very slowly edging her way back toward the stairs, still nursing her left arm with her other hand. She was in no condition to fight, but maybe she could still make a run for it. Then just before she reached the stairs, she stopped. Even if she was able to beat Serena to the top of the stairs, there was no way she would figure out how to turn on the portal and get through it without the Scout stopping her. Instead of retreating, she did the only logical thing she could do in this situation. Trying to keep her voice neutral, she asked, hoping her voice didn't show how much pain she was really in, "Abduction? I thought you wanted us dead. What do you want?"

Dark Moon stepped forward, saying calmly, "The same thing you want. A solution to this mess that doesn't involve having to murder people." When Ami didn't say anything to that, she continued. "I want you to spy on the Sekkou and report your findings to your friends on the other side. All you have to do is try to fit in and observe." Then as she pointed her thumb over her shoulder, indicating the portal, "I know Amy is safe with your friends. She should remain so at least for the three days or so that you'll be staying with us. Hopefully her experience on the other side of the rainbow will allow her to see my point." She dropped the bag she was carrying at Ami's feet and said in a commanding tone, "As I said before, timing is everything at the moment. Detransform and put this on."

"I need more information than that," Ami said. "I don't even know what is going on. You can't expect me to --"

Dark Moon interrupted Ami in mid sentence. "Let me put it another way." Her face suddenly turned expressionless, and then, almost as if Serena felt the need to remind Ami that she was the leader of the Sekkou even if they didn't actually listen to her, she stepped close to Ami and grabbed her left arm just below where Ami's right hand was clutching it in a vain attempt to make the pain stop. The blonde gave it a twist, then held it there while Ami yelled out in pain.

While Ami kept yelling in pain, Serena continued. "I'm not asking. I'm telling. You'll get your explanations later." Then to emphasize her point, she put just a touch more pressure on Ami's arm at key words as she spoke. "You are _my_ prisoner. Until I release you, you will report directly to _me_." With just a touch of anger she finished, "As far as you are concerned at the moment, I am your _god_."

With one final push to Ami's arm, Dark Moon let go of Sailor Mercury's arm, causing the Senshi to fall to the ground in agony. Dark Sailor Moon said, "Do as I say, without question, and you will be treated well. Deviate from my requests, and you will suffer the consequences." Then, nearly pleading, she said, "I promise in the end we will both benefit from this."

For the moment, Ami felt she had no options left to her if she wanted to survive. A bright blue ball of water formed around Ami, causing her uniform to dissolve into nothing. With a splash, the water disappeared, and her normal clothing she had been wearing appeared back on her in a sudden flash of light.

As Ami got dressed, she couldn't help but wonder at how strange it was that Serena could go from being almost sympathetic to ruthless in less than a second and back again. Mood swings seemed to be typical of the Sekkou, though, so perhaps it shouldn't have surprised her as much as it did.

For her part, Dark Moon had turned away to allow Ami some privacy. Serena ignored Ami's yelps of pain while she struggled with getting her shirt off and the clothing in the duffel bag on.

After a few more moments of listening to fabric ruffling, Serena heard silence. She took the silence as a signal her captive had finished dressing and turned around to see Ami now wearing what passed for Amy's 'civilian' clothing. It was a solid black militaristic uniform with thin light blue trim, and knee high gloss black boots. Despite Ami's small size, it somehow gave her a rather intimidating look.

"Now for the finishing touches." Serena said. She grabbed Ami's glasses and tossed them under a large piece of machinery. Then she unzipped a side compartment on the bag and pulled out a belt with a holster and a silver handgun and put it around Ami's waist.

Next she pulled out a small black box from inside the bag. As she opened the box, she said, "I don't recommend that you transform while you are here, since if you use your limited powers, they will instantly give you away. Just in case though, I brought something along that will hide that nice bright white uniform of yours." She pulled out a hypodermic needle and put the tip of it inside a small vial containing a dark black chemical and continued. "This is my supply of . . . medication, prescribed by the queen herself so that I would fit in with my re engineered teammates. Amy makes it for me. It should last you about three days. After that, we will have to get Amy and you switched back to your proper places for my plan to have any hope of success." Not giving Ami a chance to react, Serena jabbed the needle deep into Ami's neck.

Before Ami knew what was happening, she suddenly became dizzy, then felt the world start to fade away as she slowly slipped into unconsciousness. Serena ignored that, saying, "It's amazing. You look exactly like her. Well, enough playing around. Let's get you to the infirmary . . . 'Amy'. We will talk more after we get you fixed up." Dark Moon then dragged Ami out of the room, now ready to implement her plan.

* * *

Meanwhile back in the subway, every single individual stared at the spot Ami had been just moments ago with looks of anger or horror on their faces. The sole exception was Sailor Pluto, who as usual was calm about such events. It was Amy that broke the stunned silence.

She started whispering "Oh no, no, no, no," over and over again, then she started to raise her voice a bit as the full impact of the possible consequences came to her.

As Dark Mercury continued to get louder, Makoto's mortified expression she had from seeing her one true love disappear from thin air, quickly turned to one of rage. Her voice shaking with anger, she said, "Oh, no is right, you little . . ." Makoto rolled over, then stood up, now with someone to focus her anger on.

Without Ami there to hold her back, Makoto's wrath was effectively unleashed. Sailor Jupiter raced over to Amy so quickly that even Haruka was impressed by her speed. Before any of her friends could react, Makoto had her hands clutching Amy's throat. If Amy's hands hadn't been tied and fastened to the handrail, Makoto would have lifted the woman off the ground by her neck. Makoto held her face inches from Amy's as she growled, "You better have a way to get her back or I'll tear you to --" She stopped speaking for a moment when she realized that Amy was still repeating "no" over and over again. The Sekkou didn't appear to realize Makoto was even there. Feeling frustration at the current situation, and her desire to get revenge for what the Sekkou had done to Ami several weeks ago boil to the surface, Makoto sent one of her fists crashing against the side of Dark Mercury's head in an attempt to get Amy to snap out of her shock. "Knock it off, damn it!" Makoto yelled.

Before Makoto could throw another punch, all of the remaining Senshi were pulling her away. Makoto started to protest and struggle. She stopped struggling and allowed her friends to drag her away when she realized her attack had had the desired result. Dark Mercury seemed to ignore the pain she had to feel from the blow and screamed out to no one in particular, "That _bitch_! She's going to ruin everything!" Amy stomped her foot in frustration then said angrily, "What the hell is she thinking?"

Haruka walked Makoto toward a bench farther away to try to cool her down, while the others returned to try to talk to Amy now that she had come back to what little since she had. Rei said, "Worried Amy is going to single handedly ruin all your plans for world domination huh?" Then, not trying to hide her sarcasm, she added, "Aw, that would be terrible." Sure that Ami's double wouldn't bother to answer, Rei finished with mock sympathy, "Wanna talk about it?"

Amy looked back at Rei with a confused expression and said, "Worried about . . . oh . . . I'm sorry. I'm not talking about your egg headed, four eyed, tasteless friend. Most likely, she will either get herself killed, or find her way back here on her own. Makes no difference to me at the moment really." Glaring at Usagi she said, "It's you I'm worried about, you blithering idiot."

Thoroughly irritated for being insulted Usagi said, "I'm not a bitch or an idiot, you . . . you . . . you bitch! And Ami won't get killed, she's too smart!"

Minako leaned toward Usagi and whispered while patting her friend's shoulder, "Oh, good comeback."

Rolling her eyes, Ami replied, "I'm not talking about you either. I'm talking about Serena. You're merely a convenient focal point for me to vent my frustration, you pea brained moron." Looking Usagi up and down for a moment, she amended, "Now that I think about it, the two of you do share a lot of qualities. So maybe in an indirect way I was calling you a bitch." She gave a small calculated shrug and batted her eyes innocently.

Hotaru leaned on her staff and said quietly to herself as she listened to Sailor Moon and Dark Mercury go back and forth insulting each other, "Why is it, no matter how powerful, omnipotent, terrifying, arrogant, and sure of victory the villains are, they always resort to childish petty name calling?"

Setsuna had finally grown tired of the childish show being played in front of her. She jabbed the end of her staff on the solid ground, making a loud repetitive pounding sound as the noise echoed throughout the station and shouted, "**ENOUGH**!" Once the two bickering women fell silent, she said calmly, "The important thing at this exact moment isn't name calling, fighting, gathering information to use against each other, or even rescuing Ami." Pointing her staff at their captive, she said, "It's what to do with you. After we solve that we can focus on other issues."

"Oh, you've got a much bigger problem than that," Amy said with a wicked smile. "You see, I've managed to get my hands untied." Laughing, she lunged for the nearest Senshi, Usagi. As she did so, she untransformed, now wearing a black militaristic uniform with blue trim, and a belt with a holster for a small gun. Her gun, however, was not in the holster since the barrel was now pressed tightly against Usagi's right temple. All of the Senshi, including Haruka and Makoto, both of whom saw Amy's sudden burst of movement, rushed to form a circle around Amy and Usagi.

"Drop it," Michiru said, trying to remain calm. "There are eight of us and one of you. Even with your ability to fly, you can't escape or hope to win in a fight and you know it, plus you have nowhere to go."

Amy narrowed her eyes as she studied Michiru for a moment. Then there was a high pitched squeal and a light clicking sound as she activated the gun. "This is a DLT-15 class 5 laser pulse military grade pistol. It leaves a really big exit wound. Can't win? All I have to do is pull the trigger and I promise you, I win. As for where to go, I have an IQ of 300, so it's a good bet I can think of something, if I haven't already. Now all of you step away nice and slow, or your pretty princess gets a hole the size of a --" Amy suddenly yelled out in pain as a red object flying at a high speed glanced off her hand holding the weapon, leaving a deep cut. The surprise from the pain caused her to drop her weapon and let go of Sailor Moon.

Sailor Moon backed away and joined the circle her friends had formed around Amy. Amy applied pressure to the wound on her hand to try to stop the bleeding and looked down to see a beautiful red rose had hit the pavement hard enough to puncture the concrete. She turned around and saw Mamoru dressed as Tuxedo Mask standing calmly, and in Amy's opinion somewhat arrogantly, on the steps leading up to street level. Finally admitting defeat, Ami kicked her gun toward Makoto, then turned to Setsuna and said, sounding both frustrated and somehow amused, "All right, fine. What do you do with me?"

Sailor Pluto said, "The only thing we can. Ami has a life to live, a job to hold down, appointments to keep, taxes to pay, that kind of thing. Since she isn't here, someone will have to do those things for her until she returns, and you are the best candidate for that responsibility. You might happen to relearn a thing or two about friendship while you do that, and if so, so much the better."

Mamoru walked down the stairs and said to Setsuna, "You came to that conclusion rather quickly. Are you sure that is wise? She may very well learn things she could use to defeat all of us once she is able to get back to her friends, and we don't have any way of insuring that she won't run off on us. To say nothing about convincing her to help us get Ami back here."

Setsuna said calmly, "Ami will find her own way back. As for her running off, it's like Michiru said, she has nowhere to go."

Minako stepped forward and said, her voice full of accusation as pieces came together in her mind, "I don't believe it. You lied to us." It took everyone a moment to realize Minako wasn't talking to Dark Mercury. All of the Senshi and even Amy watched Sailor Pluto waiting for an explanation. When Setsuna remained silent, Minako said angrily, "You told us this entire encounter with the Sekkou was not supposed to happen which implies the very future was in danger. From what you just said, you already know Ami will get back to us just fine."

Keeping her face expressionless and her eyes locked on Amy, Setsuna said calmly, "You're overanalyzing."

This time, Makoto spoke. "Is she?" She stood in front of the Senshi of time and said, "Tell me, Setsuna. Tell me to my face you didn't know Ami was going to get caught by them. That you didn't know they would torture her. Heck, try telling me with a straight face that you didn't know Ami and I would need help from all of you to get our relationship started. I suppose I should at least feel reassured now that I know Ami will be all right. But it makes one wonder, what else haven't you told us?"

Setsuna looked as if she were looking through Makoto to the wall behind her. "We have had this conversation already, Makoto. I'm not omnipotent. I don't know word for word, detail by detail, what is going to happen in the future, just an outline you might say. It's my job to make sure the future unfolds as it is supposed to."

A voice behind Makoto asked, "Dose that include telling Serena the exact moment a portal will open and when Ami would be at just the right place to be pulled through it against her will? Or leaving a sheet of paper with the mathematical equation on it that inspired me to build a worm hole generator capable of reaching this reality?" Makoto stepped aside and looked back at Amy as the smaller woman completed her questions. When Setsuna again refused to speak, Amy said, "You set this whole thing up. I hate to admit it but, Makoto asks a very good question. What are you playing at?"

Setsuna's reply was to give Amy a mysterious smile and walk past her toward the stairs. When she said nothing, Rei yelled, "Isn't there anything you can tell us at all? Or do you just live for playing games with our fate?"

Setsuna had reached the stairs and had walked up a few steps by the time Rei spoke to her. She stopped a moment, looked over her shoulder and said, "You want to know your future?" Then she turned away and started walking up the stairs, saying, "You will find out soon enough."

* * *

At first, she was aware of nothing but darkness and blessed silence. Then, Ami could hear the sounds of her friends talking, almost as if they were in the distance. Their voices echoed in her skull almost as if their words were a dream. The strange thing was, she couldn't quite understand them because of the splitting headache she had at that moment. Slowly, the darkness turned to a bright blur as she opened her eyes. As they began to focus as best they could without her glasses, a familiar pair of concerned green eyes came into view.

"She's coming around." Despite the fact that the tall woman was speaking quietly, her voice roared in Ami's ears like a jackhammer.

Ami brought up her hand and put it on her forehead, trying to ward off the pain. As she shifted in bed, she was vaguely aware of the cast and sling her left arm was wrapped in. "What did I miss?" She groaned groggily, in an attempt to get a feel for the current situation. The last thing she remembered was she had been scanning Amy for information and then the strange sensation of falling and . . .

Minako's face came into view and asked, "How is she doing, Lita?"

"Lita?" Ami said, sitting up, startled for a moment, before the rest of her memory came back to her. The world spun about crazily, and if it hadn't been for a pair of strong hands grabbing onto her, Ami would have fallen out of the bed she had been neatly placed in.

Once Lita was sure Ami had her balance, she pushed Ami's shoulders back gently but firmly and said, "Maybe you should lie down a few more minutes?"

Ami looked around and saw that it was just the three of them, in a room with several beds in it, probably the infirmary. She felt nervous about being this close to the two Sekkou knowing she had no one to turn to for help. The memory of her conversation with Serena slowly came back to her and she allowed Lita to push her back on the bed.

For some reason it took her a bit more concentration to make herself stay calm than she thought it should. Quite a bit more. She could still feel the echo of fear gripping her heart from the moment she first realized Lita wasn't Makoto. As she thought about her current situation, there was also a strangely powerful feeling of rage when she thought about how Serena had gotten her into this mess. As she continued to think more about things, she found it odd that every passing thought seemed to have a fairly powerful emotion to it. Perhaps she wasn't fully conscious yet? She closed her eyes again, trying to rest for a moment. Too many thoughts were rushing through her brain too quickly and it was difficult to concentrate.

Just when she was almost calm, the last part of her memory from before she went unconscious came back to her. Her eyes snapped open and she said, startled, "It must be the -- "

She cut herself off and finished the thought in her head. 'It must be the injection.' She gritted her teeth tightly together for a moment and smacked her fist down on the mattress as hard as she could, moments away from having a temper tantrum.

She felt infuriated at being drugged by Serena. She had been embarrassed about having trouble keeping her emotions in check lately, but that had been different. By comparison, this was maddening. It felt like every passing feeling was multiplied by ten. If this was how the Sekkou felt every moment of their lives, it was no wonder they were so violent and moody.

Lita gently put her hand over Ami's clenched fist and said, "Just relax for a moment. You're still disoriented."

Ami closed her eyes again, trying to regain control over her emotions. It seemed the harder she tried the more difficult it was. She felt scared, angry, and confused all at the same time. The blurred vision didn't help to improve her mood much either.

Ami's face must have betrayed how she felt, because Minako leaned over the foot of the bed to look at Ami and asked in a voice almost like that of a police officer asking a criminal a question, "Amy, Think! What happened to you? Why didn't you retreat when I gave the order?"

She thought about Amy being trapped under the steel beam, and Makoto trying to convince her to leave the trapped Sekkou to die. At the time she felt sympathetic to her enemy, but now she wished she had done as her girlfriend had suggested. Then the thought about how she had been viciously thrown down a flight of stairs by Dark Moon, all in the name of the crazed blonde's plan (which she still didn't fully understand) entered her mind.

Perhaps a lie with a version of the truth thrown in would be the most believable? She had to fight her lips from forming a smile for a moment as several ideas on how to turn her answer into a way to get revenge on Dark Moon entered her mind. The idea was tempting, but she kept herself from doing that only because Serena's 'captivity' of her would help her to get answers the Senshi desperately needed. At the same time, it bothered her that Dark Moon felt whatever information Ami found out would somehow benefit the Sekkou as well. She had a distant feeling of guilt when the thought entered her mind that she shouldn't be thinking that way to begin with. Revenge was wrong . . . wasn't it? She suddenly wasn't so sure.

She finally decided on a modified version of the truth. "The ceiling above me collapsed and I was trapped under a support beam. Two of the Senshi came up to me and argued about whether to help me, or let me die, and they decided to leave me to my fate. Once they left, I was able to free myself and activate my portal. After that, I don't remember what happened. I don't even remember getting through the portal. Must have been smoke inhalation."

Lita gently stroked Ami's cheek and said, "Serena found you on the floor just outside the R.C.C. You must have gotten yourself that far after getting back." Then with more concern than Ami would have ever guessed possible for Dark Jupiter she said, "You scared the hell out of me. The next time I tell you to stay close to me, do it."

Ami cringed inwardly when Lita leaned down. She was just about to kiss Ami when Serena's voice said from across the room, "Satisfied now, Mina?" As Lita jerked her head away to glare at Usagi's double, Ami looked over to see Dark Sailor Moon standing in the door way with a look that said, 'I told you so' plastered on her face. "You really should place a little more faith in my honesty."

Mina folded her arms. If looks could kill, the look Mina was giving Serena would have turned her into a little puddle of slimy goo. "Faith? In you? Since when are you deserving of such honor?"

Ray appeared over Serena's shoulder in the doorway and pushed her out of the way, interrupting what seemed to be an old argument. When she spoke, she sounded nervous. "I hate to interrupt, but the queen is still waiting for our report on our mission." Looking at Ami, she said, "Can you stand?"

'Queen? What queen?' Ami thought to herself. "It's just my arm," she said as she got off the bed. She was thankful to whatever god had given the Senshi their rapid healing powers, because the cast and sling were already starting to get on her nerves. There was no way she would be able to stand being in that thing as long as a normal person would have to endure it.

She followed the others out, being careful to let at least one of the Sekkou lead the way since she had absolutely no idea where they were going other than to see this queen. They walked through several small hallways until they came to a large corridor, with the only door being a huge one at the end of it. The rest of the Sekkou were waiting impatiently.

Once they reached the door and the other Sekkou, Ami expected someone to open it, but no one did. After a few more moments, Ami realized they were waiting to be let in. The nervousness of the others seemed to be contagious because Ami was starting to feel that way too. The thought that something could make the twisted Sekkou nervous disturbed her. The only movement from any of them was Mina pacing anxiously.

Finally Amara said, "Why don't we just go in and get this over with?"

Mina stopped pacing and said, "Oh sure, that's easy for you to say. You're not the one who gets to tell her we screwed up."

The only two who didn't look nervous were Dark Pluto and Saturn. They almost seemed to find the reactions of the others amusing. Hotaru said excitedly, "I'd be happy to inform her."

Lita looked at her in disbelief. "What are you so worked up about? You failed just as badly as we did! What makes you think she will be any happier with your performance?"

Hotaru smiled and said sweetly, "We weren't in charge of it. We were more like casual observers. Why, with the plan you all came up with, it was almost as if . . ." She let her voice trail off as she thought about her next words for a moment. Then she said, switching her tone to a taunt as she looked over at Dark Moon, "You didn't have your hearts in it."

Before Serena could say anything, the door opened slowly and quietly by itself. A woman's voice called out to them from the darkness of the room, "To be back this soon must mean one of two things. Total victory, or dismal failure. I am interested to hear which it is."

The Sekkou straightened up and walked in as if they had all the confidence in the world. Ami followed their lead as her nervousness quickly gave way to curiosity to see who it was that commanded them.

Ami found the room to be excessively big, and poorly lit. The only light was from somewhere high above the ceiling in the center of the room, illuminating a small area of the floor. She was sure the owner of the voice was somewhere in the shadows. The nine warriors stood in a straight line next to each other just at the edge of the light, looking forward into the darkness.

After a few more moments, a woman walked out of the shadows. She looked to be about seven feet tall, with a slim figure, long red hair, and she wore a tight purple gown. Ami had never seen the woman before as far as she could remember. The woman gave off such an aura of power that Ami had no doubt this woman was the queen the Sekkou kept referring to. She walked casually up and down the line of her henchmen, looking into the eyes of each every time she passed them, as if searching their souls. Every time she made eye contact with Ami, she became concerned that this woman might know she didn't actually belong here.

About the third or fourth time the woman walked down the line, she said, "It must be total failure you have come to inform me of. No gloating? No stories of victory and conquest? No charts and graphs to show me how close you were to success or what you need to win next time?" Sweeping her hands outward she said, indicating what she felt was the biggest clue, "No bodies?" She stopped in front of Ami and said, clearly meaning it to sound like an insult, "Perhaps it was a lack of intelligence?"

Ami could feel her heart race in fear when she realized the woman wanted her to answer. She looked up at the woman and said, unable to hide her anxiety, "Your . . . your majesty, the task you have given us is difficult. It may take quite some time for resu--" Ami didn't need the woman to say anything to know she wanted her to be quiet. The look this queen was giving her said it all.

"More time? Results?" The tall woman snapped angrily. "I have given you plenty of things. I gave you equipment to build your precious Project Rainbow. I gave you time to learn how to use it. I gave you time to gather intelligence on your enemies. I gave you the warriors you requested, time to train them, and then time to formulate a plan. And what have you given me in return? Nothing."

"Queen Beryl, this despicable display of failure wasn't Amy's fault," Trista said from farther down the line.

As Queen Beryl walked to her loyal servant, Ami's mind began to race. Despite how long the fight in her version of reality had gone with Beryl, the only Senshi to ever actually see her face to face was Usagi. Some things started to make sense, but she was already starting to form questions in her mind she wanted to ask Dark Moon as soon as the two of them were alone.

"You see, your highness," Trista began the moment Beryl looked at her, "Amy's plan was working just fine. There were a few minor setbacks, but we were able to compensate." The tall dark green haired woman looked down the line of Sekkou to see Mina still staring forward and said, "That is, until Dark Sailor Venus gave us the order to retreat because of a few more unforeseen events."

She smiled and finished, "Your highness, if she had asked for my advice, or, had I been in charge, I would have simply suggested we wait for them to leave the building. No your highness, it wasn't bad planning. Merely incompetent leadership, that led to our failure."

Mina didn't wait for Beryl to address her. She stepped out of the formation and looked at Trista, with fury blazing in her eyes. "I made a decision that saved our hides! The element of surprise had been lost, and they were able to counter attack every attempt we made to neutralize one of them. Plus we were blinded and being suffocated by smoke! I had no choice but to make a decision!"

Ami watched Beryl as best she could without her glasses, as Beryl slowly walked toward Mina, her feet making a loud tapping sound whenever they lightly touched the ground. Mina stammered, "Your . . . your excellency, It was the only thing we could do! We needed to fall back and try again later! We had no choice!" As Beryl continued to walk down to Mina, much like a predator stalking its prey, she tried to plea for forgiveness one last time. "We had no . . ." Mina finally stopped begging, realizing she wasn't going to convince Beryl who was to blame for the failure. She glared at Beryl defiantly, thinking to herself that she would face whatever punishment the queen handed out with whatever dignity she could muster.

Beryl stopped several feet away from Mina. Without a word, the Ginzuishou materialized in her hand. It took Ami a moment to realize what it was because everything was so fuzzy. Once she noticed, she was shocked to see Beryl had it, instead of Dark Moon. Beryl raised the wand and pointed it at Mina saying, "You know the price of failure." Before the last word had completely left her lips, Beryl sent a wave of energy at Mina.

The Sekkou of hate was enveloped in a bright flash of light, which seemed to seep into her skin, then nothing. Mina stood there sweating a bit, clearly agitated, but appeared fine. At first Ami didn't understand what was so traumatizing about it. Then, as Mina screamed out, her skin began to slowly blister, and her hair began to fall out. She fell to her keens shrieking in terror and pain, as her skin started to dissolve. It took Ami a moment to realize that all of Mina's flesh was actually melting. Steam rose from her as she continued to scream and twitch long after it should have been possible to do so. Ami could see muscle, bone, and after a short while, some of her internal organs, before they too started to dissolve into a gel. Mina finally stopped moving about the time her eyes turned to soft gelatinous masses. In the end, all that remained was a charred skeleton in the middle of a dark colored liquid that couldn't really be called blood at this point.

Ami was both mortified and thrilled to see one of her foes taken out in such a way. She didn't realize how out of character her thoughts where for her, until her mind said quietly in her skull, 'One down, eight more to go!' Then she thought to herself, 'What am I thinking!? That woman just died! And if you're not careful, you could be next! . . . I can't wait for these drugs to wear off. I hate feeling this way.'

Then, from what little remained of Mina, the light reemerged and formed into a tiny spark, the size of a pebble. It floated toward Beryl almost as if carried on a breeze. Beryl held out her hand and grabbed it in her fist for a moment, a little bit of light coming from between her fingers as she did so. To the others she said, "That is the price of failure." Opening her hand again, she let the small starlike speck go back to it's body. As she did so, she said bitterly, "If I didn't need you to defeat the Senshi, I would absorb your soul and use it to make a wonderful yoma. But alas, I can't dispose of you yet."

She raised the Ginzuishou, sending a soft ray of light at Mina's charred corpse and watched as Mina's body pulled itself together again. Apparently, the process was rather uncomfortable, because as Mina's body started to reanimate, it was clear she was still very much in pain. It looked as if she was experiencing the exact same thing she had gone through, only in reverse. Finally, Mina, her eyes wide in terror, lay on the floor once again, terrified, but intact and alive.

"Now, get up." Beryl said coldly. Then to all of them she said, "I am a generous ruler, therefore I will give you more time to plan your next attack. Now, get out of my sight before I decide I have no further use for you."

Ami and Lita helped Mina to her feet, then all of the Sekkou and Ami scrambled for the door as fast as they could.


	15. Chapter 15 Two Faced

**Double Jeopardy **

**Chapter 15: Two Faced**

The next morning, Minako stepped out of her room, fully dressed for work, and walked the short distance to Ami's room. She checked to see if the Scotch tape she had put on the outside of the door was still in place, then she eased open the door to check on her 'guest'. To her satisfaction, Amy was sound asleep in the small bed. Unless she had done any flying in the middle of the night, she appeared to have kept her promise to stay in Ami's room until it was time for her first day as a teacher.

The agreement was simple enough. All Amy had to do was follow a few rules, and she would be allowed to essentially live Ami's life for her until Ami was able to get back to them, at which time Amy would then return to her own version of reality, which Minako had nicknamed 'The Twilight Zone'. If Ami didn't return . . . well, they would deal with that bridge when they had to drop their basket of eggs.

In exchange, the Senshi would treat her with respect, and not tie her up and lock her in some hot steel trunk, or attempt to kill her. The rules were equally simple, but to be sure the evil, blue-eyed monster would remember them, Minako had posted them on both sides of Ami's bedroom door.

The rules were:

1. No transforming into Dark Mercury for _**ANY**_ reason. The reason is self evident. Thou ist evil.

2. No trying to escape. It would defeat the point, and make us kill you in a particularly painful and slow manner. So don't do it.

3. No flying. It makes us think of bats, which creeps us out.

4. No doing anything that would damage Ami's careerer, friendships, family ties, or anything else. See rule number two for consequences.

5. No fighting. You can hold off for a few days. Besides, there are more of us than there are of you.

6. No wandering around wreaking havoc, destruction, or mayhem. This will make us very angry. So just don't.

7. No wandering at all. Go to work, go home. Go out only when accompanied by one of us. You know who we are.

8. No turning Artemus into a pair of mittens. His fur isn't very thick anyway.

9. No sleeping with Makoto. Not that you would _ever_ get that lucky . . .

And most important of all . . .

10. No eating after midnight. God only knows what you would turn into then!

It was agreed upon by the Senshi that if Amy broke any of the rules, they would find an . . . alternative way of dealing with her. For her part, Amy seemed to be taking them seriously. All that is except the last rule, which Minako had thrown in since they couldn't come up with a 10th rule to make it an even number. She had thought about making it, no hogging the remote control to the TV, but decided the last one would work just as well.

Minako carefully closed the door and headed out the apartment. All of the Senshi felt Setsuna had been crazy to be so lenient with someone who wanted to kill them. When they all voiced their opinions to Setsuna on this, she merely said Amy would cooperate because she really had no choice, and they really had no choice but to let Amy take Ami's place if they wanted Ami to have a job when she returned to them. Today they would find out how much they could trust Amy and how right or wrong Setsuna was. Minako prayed to whatever deity would listen to her that Setsuna was right. While the Senshi were all willing to do as Setsuna suggested, many felt they couldn't trust the woman anymore, including Minako.

The entire situation made her head spin.

* * *

The sun had risen slowly into the sky, pouring soft orange light into the room of the strange place Ami had found herself in the previous night, but she wasn't aware of this at the moment, because she was fast asleep. She stirred a bit, but didn't wake up when Lita opened the door. Ami was sitting up in a chair at a desk, her face smashed inside the pages of the _Rainbow Control Center Procedures Manual_. A magnifying glass she had been using to read with lay next to the book, still gently gripped by Ami's right hand, and a tablet with hurried notes scribbled on several pages lay on the floor where it had fallen when Ami had finally gone to sleep. With her left arm in a cast and strapped across her middle, and the position she was in, Lita knew the woman she thought was her girlfriend would be incredibly soar when she finally woke up. The bluenette had studied all night. 

The Sekkou of thunder had no idea why Amy was so interested in Project Rainbow at the moment, since she had built the damn thing, and they had proved the portal generator worked twice over. However, she didn't care about that at the moment. Anger, and tucked behind that, hurt, flashed in Lita's emerald green eyes.

Amy and Lita had shared an apartment ever since they had been married. It had been nearly a _decade _since the last time Amy had slept in a different bed from her. She had used the excuse that she had a lot of research to do that night, which at first was all right with Lita. But by one in the morning, it had become apparent that her lover would not be joining her in bed. Unable to sleep from her significant other's absence, Lita had gotten back up to find 'Amy' still reading her books, pamphlets, and research notes almost in a daze. Lita had gotten angry and demanded that Amy go to bed that instant. They needed to rest up to perform their duties appropriately for the following day, and it wasn't wise to stay awake all night when they had work to do.

When Amy refused, Lita had thought she was hiding something and said so. When Amy assured her that wasn't it, Lita accused her of being angry with her and avoiding her rather than discussing the problem. Lita had gotten furious with Amy because the woman never even looked up from her books during the argument. It was as if she didn't even care about her.

This was very strange of Amy to do, since she normally clung to Lita continuously during their spare time. While she did occasionally take the time to study, read, or tinker with some device, she _never_ ignored Lita. On the rare occasion she absolutely had to do some kind of scientific work, she usually insisted Lita stay with her. Last night however, she had waved her hand to dismiss her as if she were a servant. It was as if the old annoying habits Amy had when they had been dating were coming back. It had to mean she was angry with her, and it infuriated her to no end. Especially since Amy refused to tell her what it was she was mad at her for.

Still fuming, Lita said quietly, "Wake up call, honey." She gave Ami a gentle push. Ami moaned in her sleep, then said something about not eating the last cookie. Finally losing it, the tall woman gave the bottom of Ami's chair a violent kick, sending it flying out from under Ami, throwing her to the ground. Dark Jupiter put her foot gently on Ami's broken arm, resting it there. She looked down and said, as if everything were all right and they were just talking about the weather, "Still don't want to talk about what's bothering you?"

Ami, now wide awake with her heart racing from the sudden and painful commotion, looked up at Lita with wide eyes. Ami couldn't help but muse that when one was lying on the ground, Makoto's double looked even taller and far more menacing. Trying not to hyperventilate in panic, Ami decided to gamble on the emotions she had seen the tall woman show yesterday. She said, trying to remain calm, "You won't do it."

Lita gritted her teeth in anger, and raised her foot, causing Ami to squeeze her eyes shut, waiting for the unavoidable pain she was about to experience. To her surprise, she heard a smacking sound as Lita's foot hit the ground millimeters from the side of her head. When Ami opened her eyes, she saw Dark Sailor Jupiter holding her hand out to help her up. Ami accepted the offer, and was yanked violently to her feet.

Lita squeezed Ami's hand tightly, and said, doing a bad attempt at keeping anger out of her voice, "You had better have a good reason for not telling me what it is you're up to." Ami looked into the other woman's eyes and got the distinct impression that Lita was paranoid, but of what, Ami couldn't begin to guess. Finally, Lita let go of her hand and turned toward the door, saying, "Come on, we are going to be late for work."

Ami stood there another moment in a daze. The concept that the Sekkou had jobs other than being Queen Beryl's personal hitmen hadn't even occurred to her. "This place keeps getting weirder and weirder," Ami said quietly as she hurried to catch up with Lita.

* * *

The hustle and bustle of the school cafeteria was in full swing, with students squeezing through the lunch lines, chatting and yelling to each other, and a few just wasting time between class. The occasional yell from a teacher or administrator reminding students not to run could occasionally be heard as always, along with the usual griping about the food, and the usual rumors circling the rumor mill were starting to spin as well. 

This was some cause for concern to Hotaru as she sat down to enjoy her lunch, because the two friends she usually ate lunch with hadn't appeared yet, which could mean only one thing. They must still be in Mizuno Sensei's last class. As the short girl looked around, she noticed that _none_ of the students from Ami's class before lunch were out yet.

She was just about to get up and investigate when she saw her friend, Satsuki, enter the cafeteria, dragging her feet slowly and rubbing her shoulders. She looked like she had just stepped out of gym class, only she was made to wear her school uniform instead of changing into her gym clothing.

Hotaru stood up and called out to get her friend's attention, and it took her dazed friend a few more moments to make her way to her. Flopping down on the bench next to Hotaru, Satsuki said, sounding exhausted, "Sorry I'm late, Hotaru. Don't count on seeing Masakazu today either. I have a feeling he will be stuck in Mizuno Sensei's classroom the rest of lunch."

Hotaru cringed inwardly as she imagined how class must have gone. She blinked a few times, feigning surprise, and asked anyway, "What happened? Was there a fight or something?"

Flapping her arms in an attempt to get her shoulders to stop aching, Satsuki answered, "Something like that. I don't know what has gotten into Mizuno Sensei today. The class started out normally, but the further in it got, the stranger things got. It started when Masakazu raised his hand to ask a question, because Sensei had started to talk really fast and none of us could keep up. When Mizuno Sensei realized he was trying to ask her to slow down without actually saying it, all hell broke loose."

She stopped and shook her head a moment before continuing. "She gave him detention, as well as several other students who gasped out in surprise. Then later, she said she was going to ask us each a question to see how well we had followed along, and she would be asking us in alphabetical order. Much to my horror, she decided that the alphabet started with S today. I got asked, 'What is the speed of light when passing through an event horizon'." Stopping a moment to groan out in frustration, Satsuki said angrily, "When I told her that wasn't even in the chapter we went over, she decided to make an example out of me and had me hold an extra text book from her advanced physics class in each hand with my arms spread out for the rest of the class!"

Letting her head thump against the table, she said, sounding exhausted, "And as you can see, she extended class by 20 minutes. Half the class has detention, and they get to start by staying the rest of lunch cleaning the classroom. She's got them working like slaves!"

Hotaru frowned as she heard another student who had been lucky to get out of Ami's class say something about 'Mad Madam Mizuno' – that being Ami's new nickname. Turning her attention back to her friend, she said quietly as she patted Satsuki's shoulder, "Maybe Mizuno-Sensei is just having a bad day. I'm sure she will be back to her old self in no time."

Sounding as if she were crying, Satsuki said, "I know you know Mizuno-Sensei outside of class, Hotaru, so maybe you can talk some sense back into that woman. But if you don't think you can, I suggest you skip your last class today."

* * *

Ami had so far spent her entire time in this twisted version of reality in the same building, and she had finally found out why. The building was Queen Beryl's personal palace. As such, it was ludicrous in size apparently to symbolize her power over the planet. And yet, it was only half finished. 

Amy's (well, at the moment, Ami's) job was to ensure said building was engineered properly and that the construction stayed on schedule. This was no small job, since Ami had learned that getting a contractor to re-model just her mother's kitchen on time had been a nightmare. To keep everything going in a construction zone the size of this was frustrating to say the least.

At the moment, Ami stood on an unfinished floor near the newest levels which had just started being built. She could see for miles while she re-read over a schematic, which was so complicated she couldn't understand some of it. To add to her mounting stress, she had already had to have three projects re-started because the work was substandard even to her limited knowledge.

She stared out at the city skyline for a while, finally tiring of giving orders, something she didn't like to do anyway. It was such a different city from the one she came from, and it wasn't just the city's layout that was different. Its infrastructure and technology were so advanced that it astounded Ami. Hover cars zoomed by in neat lines, using a navigation system Ami was still trying to figure out. She could see what she had learned were advanced space ships and shuttles taking off for space within the city's space port regularly without problems to various parts of the solar system. Some of the newer skyscrapers' architecture looked so magnificent that Ami couldn't imagine how they were built.

It was all she could do to instruct her construction crews for just that reason. They used standard tools such as drills, saws, and arch welders, but they also used robotic suits to lift heavy equipment, rocket packs, plasma welders, and a few tools Ami hadn't tried to figure out what they were to avoid looking like an idiot in front of people she was supposed to be in charge of.

Still, despite all the differences, the first moment she started to observe the city earlier that morning she had gotten the feeling she had been here before. She had been up here for four hours now, and the feeling just wouldn't go away. It was something about the newer, more advanced buildings, but she couldn't place her finger on what it was about them that made her feel she had been here.

A loud whistle screeched out, causing Ami to jump in surprise, then relax and sigh to herself as she stretched her arms once she realized it was the call for break. The nagging feeling about the city would have to wait. She had some things she wanted to check out while she had the chance. Besides, if she spent any more time this high up without something tied to her, she was going to scream.

* * *

Hotaru sat down at her desk quietly while waiting for Amy to get to the class room so she could start the last class of the day. The rest of the unsuspecting students wandered between desks chatting excitedly about their plans for later in the week. 

Hotaru looked up just in time to see Amy quietly walk in to the room to her desk so quietly that the class representative didn't even notice her enter. The twisted teacher sat down on top of her desk with an innocent smile plastered onto her face as the majority of the students continued to ignore her. After a few moments, the Sekkou turned teacher started to creep Hotaru out, because she wasn't moving. She didn't blink, and Hotaru wasn't even sure Amy was breathing. She was as still as a statue, just sitting on the desk, waiting. The short girl also found it frustrating that the rest of the class wasn't noticing their teacher's odd behavior, or the fact that she wasn't wearing glasses. Despite the identical face and clothing, everything about Amy screamed that she wasn't the same person. It frustrated Hotaru how dense some people in her generation could be.

The bell rang out, and like unsuspecting cattle being led to the slaughter house, the class continued to chat quietly to each other and find their seats. Being late was their first mistake.

Amy immediately jumped off the desk, grabbed a ruler, and smashed it against the marker board so hard it snapped into pieces, the parts landing inches from the students in the front row. The remaining students who were still standing, (now including one boy who was half way in his seat) stopped right where they were, too surprised to make any comment on their usually docile teacher's sudden burst of movement. To the least observant, it was as if their teacher had just suddenly appeared right before them.

Now sure she had the class's attention, Amy pointed what was left of the ruler in her hands at each of the standing students as she spoke. "You, you, you, you and you, have detention today after school. Now, please take your seats so that we can begin class."

The student that had been half sitting, finished sitting down as he protested under his breath, "But it's my first offense! Aren't we supposed to be given three chances?"

Amy smiled happily and said as sweetly as she could, "Oh, OK. Don't worry, though, I'm sure I'll find another reason to make your life a living hell today." Addressing the rest of the class, she said, "Well, no time like the present for a pop quiz!"

The entire class groaned loudly, with the exception of a few students who whispered out of surprise to their neighbors. Sensei Mizuno _never_ gave pop quizzes.

Amy handed the stack of papers to Hotaru and had her start passing out the tests wordlessly.

As she made her way around the room, Hotaru had time to read the title of the test. _Chapter 32: The workings of the universe, an adventure in science. _After reading the title, she glanced at Amy and saw her watching with an amused expression as Hotaru continued to do the bidding of this evil monster.

"_Chapter 32? Thats the last chapter in the book! We are only on chapter 12!" _Hotaru thought to herself angrily. To make things worse, she also noticed the test had no multiple choice answers. Everything required the student to write in sentence or paragraph form explaining the answer. Those were the hardest tests for Hotaru. As she sat down, she realized Amy was doing this specifically to get at her. If this was how she wanted to play, Hotaru would give her no satisfaction. She kept her face an expressionless mask as if this were an everyday, normal event in class and started answering the tests as best she could.

When Hotaru had gotten to question three, a student said quietly on the other side of the room, "This is ridiculous!"

Glancing down at her desk to find out the student's name, Amy said just as quietly, "See you after school, Mr. Oshiro."

Oshiro said angrily, "What!? You can't --"

Sounding rather bored, Amy cut him off with a sigh and said, "For the rest of the week then. Anyone else have a complaint?"

Later on during the test, Hotaru saw Amy stand up without making a sound. Being careful not to let Amy see she was watching, Hotaru let her eyes follow Amy's determined gaze to see who her next target was. "Oh no!" Hotaru whispered to herself.

Her friend, Kitsune, had many of Usagi's qualities. Chief among them was her tendency to fall asleep in class. The rest of the class seemed to have noticed what was going on about the time Amy pulled "_Explaining Einsteinian Physics in all its Wonder_" out of her bag that she used to carry her reference books. It was a particularly large, heavy book. Hotaru nearly stood up as Amy slunk quietly toward the unsuspecting student.

Hotaru whispered frantically to herself, "Wake up, Kitsune!"

Amy reached the girl's desk and raised the book high over her head. One of the students apparently had also noticed what was happening and said nervously, "Oh dear God, she's going to crush her head!"

Amy slammed the book down as hard as she could on Kitsune's desk, right next to the girl's head. In a panic, the young student tried to stand up, and in the process tipped herself and the desk she had been in over with a tremendous crash.

Amy laughed happily to herself. It wasn't much, but any chaos she could bring to this world the better. To everyone's surprise, she didn't give the boy who spoke up or Kitsune detention. Her reason for this was simple enough. She had filled the entire room that afternoon already, except for one seat. That particular seat was reserved for a special student Amy dearly wanted to see there.

Exactly seven and a half minutes into the test, Amy said excitedly, "Well, time is up! Please turn your papers over. My dear sweet Hotaru, would you be ever so kind as to gather the tests for me?"

Hotaru had finally had it with this nonsense. She said, deciding to abandon her attempt at staying quiet, "Don't you think we should have a little more time, _Ami_?"

Amy smiled and said politely, "Hotaru, you will address me as Mizuno Sensei." Seeing the black expression on Hotaru's face, Amy said a little more seriously this time, "I'm sorry Hotaru, do you have something you would like to discuss with me privately?" She opened the door to the hallway and gestured for Hotaru to follow her. As Hotaru got up, Ami said in amusement, "This will only take a moment. Kitsune, please collect the rest of the tests."

The moment the door closed behind them, Hotaru hissed, "What are you doing? You are supposed to be trying to be Ami! Even the most dense of those students can tell there is something wrong with you!"

The 'teacher' smiled, then shrugged innocently as she spoke. "What did you want me to do? I haven't got the slightest idea how to teach a class of petulant children. I really am doing my best."

"You could at least follow the lesson plan," Hotaru said, trying to keep her voice down.

"Ah, she tests me! She tests me," Amy said, clearly irritated by Hotaru. Placing a hand on Hotaru's shoulder, she started speaking as if they were old friends. "Listen, Hotaru, maybe I should --"

"Get your hand off me, _Mizuno Sensei"._ Hotaru growled the last word angrily. It was as if Amy knew exactly what to do to get under her skin.

Gripping both of Hotaru's shoulders as she started to get close to loosing her temper, Amy said angrily, "Listen, you little --" She stopped when she noticed a custodian start coming down the hallway on his way to clean some other part of the building.

Lowering her voice to a whisper, Ami's impostor bit out angrily, "When I am out of this building I admit and surrender to your authority as your prisoner, and will comply with any requests you have. But when you are in this classroom," Amy stopped so she could move closer and leaned down a bit to whisper into Hotaru's ear, "I am _God!_ You will do what _I _say." Standing back up to her full height, she said happily, just as the custodian passed them, "Do we have an understanding?"

Taking Hotaru's silence as a yes, Amy said, "Good. Now take your seat." Then, to add insult to injury, she added as Hotaru opened the door, loud enough for the students in the room to hear, "Hotaru will be joining you for detention, Oshiro."

* * *

As she walked through the darkened control room, Ami found the Wizard of Oz reference for the name for the portal generator to be amusing. Regardless of which side of the portal one originated, the other side probably always seemed a bit like Oz. 

Sighing out loud to herself, Ami said, "Now, if only I could find a pair of ruby red slippers."

From what she had read in the manual the night before, turning on the portal and trying to leave through it would take quite a bit of time to do by herself. Since she would be missed at the moment if she took too long, all she had time to do was turn on a few of the generators and warm up some of the computer processors. Then, she was going to go meet up with Serena who had a few things she wanted to tell Ami. There was, however, one other thing she was going to do while down here.

She wasn't sure if it was curiosity or the drugs still racing through her system, but she wanted to get a closer look at one of the portal activators the Sekkou wore on their chokers and used to leave Ami's home dimension. Unfortunately, she didn't know the location of the key to open the locker that held the extra ones. Luckily, there was a tool box she had come across that had several conventional tools in it. She figured the crowbar would suffice to break the locked doors.

She jammed one end of the bar in between the door and the cabinet frame and started to push. It took a lot less effort than she had expected. When the lock broke and the door popped open, her bar went flying away, crashing against something in the dark, sending a series of clanging sounds through the large room. Ami cringed and backed away for a second as if she had done something wrong while taking a moment to insure no one heard the commotion.

When no alarms went off and no doors flew open so guards could come rushing in, she silently stepped forward and pulled out one of the small star-shaped pendants, put it in a shirt pocket, and stepped back into the shadows to leave.

Just as she was nearly to the door, it slid open unexpectedly. She wasn't quite close enough to have set them off, so Ami knew someone was coming in and dove behind one of the many generators in the room. Two female silhouettes walked in and closed the door behind them, plunging the room into darkness. As Ami watched from her hiding place, neither of them moved a muscle for what felt like several minutes.

"You might as well come out, Amy. We know you are in here." Like a ghost, Trista's quiet haunting voice echoed through the room. Despite its softness, to Ami, it seemed to be the most terrifying of sounds.

Hotaru added, "Yeah! Come on out! We already know you are busy giving yourself a little tune up, so your secret is safe with us!" Hotaru showed some frustration on her face when the comment failed to get a response. "Yes, that's right, you little freak! Beryl told us all about how you got your butt handed to you by -- " Hotaru stopped talking a moment when Trista put a hand on her shoulder, silently suggesting she change her tone.

Hotaru rolled her eyes and said, sounding like she was talking to a dog she had just kicked and only half heartedly wanted it to stop cowering, "We are here to . . . offer you something. Friendship, if you will." Then the short girl started tapping her foot and glared at Trista as if to say, 'Well?' She whispered to her taller companion, "See? She is a bit of a recluse. I told you we should have tried Lita instead."

Trista put her hand on Hotaru's shoulder again and said, equally quiet, "Come now, you know Amy is the one out of them with the biggest grudge against Mina. She will cooperate once she hears what we have to say. She just needs some . . . persuasion to talk to us." Then the two outer Sekkou started walking into the room. Louder this time, Trista said, "You cannot hide forever. Besides, we really aren't looking for a fight. Just hear us out and we will be on our way."

Ami looked behind her, trying to find a way out. All she saw was a steel wall and . . . a vent leading into the ventilation system. There it was, the one real chance she had of getting away from her two pursuers, and she couldn't take it for two reasons. First, they would hear her the moment she started crawling around the vent shaft. Second, she only had one arm to use since her other was still broken, and resting in its sling.

Ami peeked around from behind her hiding place and noticed that her uninvited guests had walked past her hiding place and were about to get close enough to see the damaged locker. Realizing she had no choice, Ami stepped out of the shadows and said with as much authority as she could, "I'm running a rather delicate experiment at the moment, so I'd appreciate it if you would make this quick."

The two Sekkou turned around, momentarily surprised 'Amy' had come out of hiding so quickly. Apparently, they had expected her to take more convincing. It hadn't occurred to her that some of the Sekkou didn't entirely trust each other. A few more moments passed with no one moving. Realizing the two intruders probably thought she had something planned, she decided to walk toward them.

That was when they made their move. Hotaru handed one end of a rope she had kept out of view to Trista, then the two flew at Ami, closing the distance between her and them. Once they reached her, they flew circles around her so that Ami was wrapped up in the rope, and unable to move her arms or legs. Both in surprise, and because Trista tightened the rope around Ami's feet by giving it a tug, Ami fell face first to the ground.

Dark Saturn rolled Ami on to her back, then lifted her off the ground by her collar, as Ami protested in fear and surprise, "What's the meaning of this!? I thought you wanted to talk!"

Trista said, surprisingly calm, "Just a precaution. We know you are rather sensitive about your disability, and that you don't take kindly to being interrupted during your . . . procedures."

Ami looked at the tall woman, feeling a strong sense of rage course through her. Not because of this disability they were talking about, of which she knew nothing, but because she felt stupid for being caught off guard.

Hotaru looked up at Ami, watching her squirm momentarily before saying, "Now now, it's OK. Here, perhaps this will help you to trust us some." She brought up her hand and touched Ami's broken arm. Ami clenched her eyes tight, expecting the demonic version of her student to try to hurt her. Instead, she felt . . . nothing at all. No pain. It took her another moment to realize that Dark Pluto had healed her arm similar to how Sailor Saturn healed wounds.

Trista gently set Ami down so that she was somewhat sitting on a large crate near them. "You can stop wearing that ridiculous sling, once we untie you of course. We have much to discuss with you, Mrs. Anderson."

Hotaru leaned causally on her staff and said, "You see, we need help. We want to replace Mina with . . . well, us. Since you are the most intelligent out of all of us, we were hoping you could help us with a plan to do so. It would be the best way to get her back after all for what she did to you." When Ami didn't answer, Hotaru elaborated. "We want to discredit, humiliate, and dishonor her."

Then, in an attempt to show her they were serious, Trista untied Ami. "What do you say, Amy?" The Sekkou of destruction held out her hand and finished, "Partners?"

For her part, Ami looked back and forth between the two of them while gingerly testing her now healed arm, and trying as hard as she could to hide her confusion. 'What disability were they talking about? Her scan of Amy hadn't turned up anything other than severe injuries, but they all appeared to be healed, hadn't they? What did Amy have against Mina?' Many questions circled through her mind, but perhaps the most important question that entered Ami's mind was, 'Do I help them?'

It turned out, Ami would have no time to answer. Ami heard a sound from above, and looked up just in time to see Dark Sailor Jupiter jump from a catwalk and land between all three of them. Before anyone could move, Lita kicked both Trista and Hotaru, sending them crashing against surrounding equipment.

Standing victoriously, Lita said angrily to her two victims, "We have pledged our loyalty to Mina and will never bow to the likes of you."

Dark Pluto and Saturn rose to their feet, but backed away. Trista looked at Lita and said with a sharp edge of anger, "You know we can defeat you." Softening her voice just a bit, she said to Ami, "Do you really share that commitment?" Before Ami could answer, Trista said, pointing at her own brain, "Think about it." Then she grabbed Hotaru and the two quickly made their way back to the door.

Ami started to leave as well, until Lita grabbed Ami by the arm and said, "Come with me. We need to have a chat."

* * *

Haruka loved Michiru dearly. However, she hated it when she had to borrow her lover's car. An aquamarine Volkswagen beetle just wasn't her choice for a mode of transportation, no matter how 'cute' Michiru might think it was. Unfortunately, Haruka needed something to pick up Hotaru from school. Adding to her frustration, Hotaru seemed to be running rather late. 

Just when she reached for the door handle to get out and start looking for her daughter, she saw the teen walking quietly out of the building, head hung low in apparent shame. Haruka got out of the car and met her halfway.

"What happened?"

"_Mizuno Sensei _gave me detention for standing up for my classmates at the hands of a bully."

Haruka narrowed her eyes. "This . . . bully, wouldn't happen to be who I think it is, would she?"

Hotaru sighed. "It's OK, Haruka-papa, really. I think she just wanted to blow off some steam and . . . impress . . . upon . . . me . . . where are you going? Haruka-papa?" She watched Haruka walk past her and into the building. Hotaru made the decision to wait in the car because whatever her parent did would almost certainly be polite, well thought out, and responsible.

After nearly reaching the car, Hotaru sighed again, shook her head in disappointment, then put her book bag down next to the car, turned around, and ran in the direction Haruka had gone.


	16. Chapter 16 Of Foxes and Scorpions

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 16: Of Foxes and Scorpions**

Lita, still holding onto Ami's arm with an iron grip, opened a steel door leading to a small chemical lab further down the hall way. Then, with a roar of frustration and anger, she practically threw Ami into the room. The momentum was strong enough to send Ami crashing on top of a table, sending various bits of lab equipment crashing to the floor.

Not giving her companion time to recover, Lita slammed the door shut and walked over to Ami. Since Ami hadn't had time to recover her balance or turn around, Lita grabbed her shoulders, jerked her to a standing position, then violently twisted her around to face her.

Sounding strangely calm, Lita said, "Let's see now. First, you ignore me for an entire evening to do some research on a project you have perfected to the point of insanity. Next, you get lost trying to find your way to the construction zone you were supposed to be supervising today. Now, I find you breaking into a locker that only you have the keys to. Care to explain your rather odd behavior?"

By this time, Ami had regained her balance and oriented herself. She decided to gamble again, this time by doing exactly what she thought Amy would do in a situation like this.

The sharp slap came as a complete surprise to Lita. She stumbled back a step and rubbed her cheek gently for a moment as a red hand print started to form there.

She blinked a few times to clear her head, then she looked down at Ami with a smile that had no humor in it and said, "Oooooh, you are _good_ aren't you." It wasn't a question. As her face turned red, both from the slap and from ever-increasing anger, Lita grabbed Ami by the collar and lifted her off the ground. Then she threw Ami against the door and watched with some satisfaction as the woman's small frame slid to the ground.

Despite her anger, Lita's voice had an almost amused sound to it. "Let's get to the bottom of this, shall we?" Not bothering to help Ami up this time, she said, "Why don't you try transforming, 'Amy'?"

Without turning around, Ami put her hand on the door knob. She wasn't about to try to open the door and run, because she knew Lita could easily outrun her. Still, it was tempting.

'She knows,' Ami thought to herself. Serena had told her not to transform because her powers would give her away. But she had said the drug she had given her might help her to blend in. At this point, even if it didn't, being transformed into Sailor Mercury might at least give her a fighting chance of escaping. Besides, what other choice did she have at the moment?

"_**Mercury Crystal Power, Make-Up!**_"

Ami shouted the familiar transformation phrase, the militaristic uniform she had been wearing vanished, and in its place was her Senshi uniform. Or rather, Dark Mercury's uniform. Ami looked down at her outfit, surprised by the sight of the black Sekkou uniform even if it had been what she expected.

Trying not to let that surprise show, she looked up at Lita and said angrily, "Satisfied?"

"Yes I am,_ Ami_." With another yell of anger, Lita stepped forward and sent a kick flying in Ami's direction. It missed, but it took Ami until after she jumped away from the door to realize that that was exactly what Lita was trying to get her to do. "Such a good performance. If only Serena had the brains to tell you the proper transformation phrase, you might have been able to keep me guessing."

"_**Dark Jupiter Power, Make-Up!"**_

With those words, Lita went through her version of her transformation. Unlike Ami's, Lita's resembled Makoto's transformation, only with black energy instead of the blue lightning that accompanied Makoto's.

Then Dark Sailor Jupiter looked Sailor Mercury up and down for a moment as if she were appraising a purchase at the store. "Amazing. You look just like her. Serena must have given you some of her medication. That's the only explanation I have. How she convinced you to take that stuff I'll never know."

Lita looked into Ami's eyes and her expression softened from anger to one of longing for a moment. In that moment, Ami saw the love for her partner that Lita had buried within the swirling madness of her mind. Lita raised her hand slowly to touch Ami's chin absently as she thought out loud. "You have everything you had within you when I fell in love with . . ." Lita's words trailed off for a moment as her fingers delicately touched Ami's jaw.

That simple touch seemed to bring her back to what qualified as 'reality' for the Sekkou. Anger flashed in her eyes again, and she quickly brought up her hands to press them to each side of Ami's head. Then, as Ami yelled out in pain from the pressure, Lita lifted her off the ground. While her words were quiet, the rage behind them was obvious to Ami. "If anything happens to her, I promise you, you won't live to see another sunrise."

Still holding Ami, Lita turned and dropped her on top of some of the overturned lab equipment. As she watched Ami land on the ground, rubbing her neck in pain, Lita said quietly, "Now, the question is, what do I do with you?" She smiled as she started to talk out loud. "It might be amusing to bring you to Queen Beryl and see what her reaction is. That's exactly what I would do, too, except she would be just as pissed to see you as she would be at us for letting you get this close to her."

As Lita continued to rattle off a few other morbid ideas on the topic of fun things to do to Ami that would cause her extreme amounts of pain, Ami looked around her at the various lab equipment on the floor. Several shattered glass tubes, a few medication cups, some empty syringes, rubber gloves . . . nothing particularly useful as a weapon.

Then her eyes fell on an object lying on the floor just within reach. An unassuming tool, about a foot long, rectangular in shape with a simple lever handle. A pill crusher. Made almost entirely out of steel. Ami gripped the handle just as Lita grabbed her and hauled her to her feet.

Ami saw energy start to crackle around Lita's hands and decided now was the time to act. Before Lita could send electricity shooting through her, Aim swung the pill crusher and let it go at just the right moment so that it would fly right into the side of Lita's head. There was a loud cracking sound, and at first, Lita didn't do anything. She just looked at Ami with a surprised expression. Then the energy she was building up dissipated suddenly, and she dropped Ami as she crumpled to the floor with a thud.

Ami backed up cautiously for a moment. When Lita didn't move, she moved closer and knelt down. For some strange reason, she felt a little guilty that she might have inflicted serious injury upon Lita. As she gently shook her, Ami asked nervously, "Are you really knocked out?"

She nearly jumped out of her skin when Lita started to moving to get up again, saying sheepishly, and a little groggy from the blow, "Yeah, . . . no. Ya can't blame me for --!"

Another loud crack rang out as Ami grabbed the pill crusher and in a panic once again smashed it down on the back of Lita's skull as hard as she could, similar to a person in a panic about the bug they just crushed not being dead.

The bluenette tapped Lita with her foot a few more times, trying to make certain the woman was really out this time. Ami slowly opened the door, never taking her eyes off of Lita. Then just before she left she said, "I am sorry, but it is really for the best. For what it is worth, by the time you come to, I should have your wife back to you." Then she locked the door and closed it behind her. It was time to leave.

* * *

Haruka's rather smug voice said over the telephone to Minako, "Ya know, they say not to hit someone with a closed fist, but sometimes, it sure is fun!" 

Minako shook her head. As the leader of the Senshi, she felt it was her job to be the responsible one. However, she knew the smile she couldn't keep back would betray her true feelings on the matter even over the phone, as she said, "You know you didn't have to hit her, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm such a bad girl. Well, anyway, I figured I'd let you know she is on her way home. She should be back any --"

The end of Haruka's sentence was cut short by the sound of the front door to the apartment being thrown open, causing Minako to nearly drop the phone in surprise as the topic of conversation came storming into the room. Amy didn't even bother to close the door to the apartment as she hurried past while covering her right eye with her hand as she grumbled in frustration and anger to herself. Minako watched the woman until she got to her room and slammed the door shut.

"Ah, there is our little princess now," Haruka said, trying somewhat unsuccessfully not to laugh.

Minako sighed and replied, "It's easy for you to say. I have to sleep here, you know? Guess I'll find the first aid kit and go talk to her. Goodnight, Haruka."

A few minutes later, Minako was standing outside of Ami's bedroom with the first aid kit, unsure if she was supposed to knock, just walk in, or wait for Amy to make the first move and ask for help. She could hear the Sekkou rummaging around the room looking for something. Just as Minako made up her mind and was about to knock, the door opened about half an inch and Amy's left eye came into view. To Minako she looked for all the world like a small, scared, angry animal looking through a hole in the wall at something that had come to eat her. The expression made her feel sorry for Amy. Just a little.

After a few moments, Amy's voice asked in a strangely soft, embarrassed voice, "What do you want?"

Minako couldn't believe it. Was Amy actually . . . crying? "I . . . was told you had a . . . rough time today after school, so I brought the first aid kit. Figured I'd help patch you up."

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence while Amy thought about whether she wanted help or not. "I'll only let you come in under one condition."

Minako smiled happily. Even if Amy was the enemy, she always did get a strange thrill out of helping people who were sick or injured, despite their complaints. "Sure! Anything!"

Amy sounded dead serious when she said, "Don't flip out. This is embarrassing enough for me as it is. Oh, and while you are out there, you wouldn't happen to know where the toolbox is, would you?"

Minako blinked in confusion and then asked dumbly, to make sure she heard right, "Tool box?"

The eye disappeared out of view for a moment and a sound of something, possibly Amy's forehead, banging against the other side of the door could be heard. Between thuds, Ami said, "Yes, the toolbox."

After going to get the toolbox from under the kitchen sink, Minako returned to find the door opened halfway. Taking it as an invitation to enter, she saw Amy sitting in the chair at the desk, turned away from the door.

After another long, awkward silence, Amy said simply, "Flathead screwdriver please. Smallest one you have, preferably."

As Minako rummaged through the box, she asked in an attempt to make small talk, "Are you having problems with a clock or something? I mean, a toolbox is a rather strange thing to ask for to help heal a punch in the face."

Amy said nothing. Instead, she swiveled the chair around so she was facing Minako.

The blonde just stared at her dumbly then said, "O.K. . . . uh, screwdriver it is then."

While she had stopped crying, her cheeks still had a reddish tinge to them, giving away that the devil had indeed, been crying. That wasn't what had gotten Minako's attention, though. Instead of the usual purple bruising and swollen eye Minako had expected to see, Amy's entire right eye, including the eyelids, had been pushed in and to the left, leaving an opening where exposed wiring was clearly visible.

Amy reached out and took the screwdriver from Minako without a word, and pushed at an area near her eyebrow until all of the skin on the upper right area of her face came loose. A quiet sucking sound was heard as Amy reached up and pulled off the artificial skin from her face, revealing the entire eye assembly, and what looked like tan plastic put in place to replace bone and cover electronic parts.

The plastic casing was cracked, but intact. At the edge of the casing, Minako could see white bone right before where what she assumed was Amy's real skin started. And the structure that made up the eye consisted of the lens and eyelids, with a mass of wiring, tiny hydraulics, and servos. Several of the hydraulics seemed to have been knocked loose, and the artificial eye hung outward a bit after Amy removed the skin, allowing Minako to somewhat be able to see farther inside Amy's head. While Minako didn't know all that much about human anatomy other than the basics, it looked like the cybernetic work was possibly intertwined all the way to her brain.

Amy flopped the synthetic skin onto the desk behind her, and started assessing the damage with her hand for a moment. She sighed in frustration, then asked, "Mirror?"

Minako, still staring at the strange site before her, said, "Wha --? Oh, yeah." She opened a drawer on Ami's dresser and held it up so Amy could see herself.

As she watched Amy quietly start fitting parts back together, an obvious question came to mind. At first, Minako felt it was a rather rude question to ask, but after a while she felt the silence and her curiosity getting to her. "So uh, . . . for the sake of conversation, I was wondering something. What . . . um . . . what happened to you anyway? Was it a car accident or something?"

At that question, Amy froze for a few seconds. Amy's expression changed to one of annoyance, then Minako could see a faint green light, just barely bright enough to be visible, flashing underneath the plastic casing. It took her another instant to realize Amy was thinking of a reply.

Amy lifted the pliers out of the tool box. She looked at them quizzically, then said, "Such primitive tools. I guess they'll have to do for now, though." She gave her mechanical eye a gentle tug, the pushed it somewhat back into place and set about pushing the tiny hydraulics back together.

The blond frowned slightly and said, "Sorry. I suppose that's a touchy subject."

"Not really. It's just a . . . a strange question, coming from you. You sure you want to know the answer to that?"

Minako nodded her head, and Amy continued. "A few years ago, I challenged Mina for control over the Sekkou, since she seemed to me to be a poor choice of a leader. Our Queen found the confrontation to be amusing, and had us fight it out to finalize the answer, and of course, for her own entertainment. I failed to calculate why it was a ditsy blonde should outrank me."

Minako started to apologize again for asking, but Amy held up a hand and said, "But wait! You haven't heard the best part." Once she was sure her audience would not interrupt her again, Amy continued, "It was a moment of indecisiveness. I had an opportunity to take her out, but I wasn't sure if it would work, so I held off my attack for a split second. Lack of confidence, I suppose. It was all the time she needed."

Suddenly Amy slammed her left hand down on the desk as hard as she could, causing Minako to jump a bit. "WHACK! Just like that, I had a quarter of my skull, along with my right eye, and part of my brain removed by that damn whip." Amy froze a moment, then looked at her left hand in thought. "Since I had just long enough to see the attack coming, I foolishly raised my hand to block it." Wiggling her fingers for emphasis, she said, "The hand's fake too. I suppose in the heat of battle, she felt it necessary to break my left arm, and right leg just for good measure right after that. Can't say for sure though, since I was already out of it by that point."

Minako thought another moment then said, "Why didn't all that show up on Ami's scan?"

Amy shrugged and said, "Just a hypothesis, but it might be the biomechanical parts showed up close enough to the real thing to fool her. Of course, she could also have just been being polite, since she could probably tell that none of my cybernetic parts are enhancements. The world may never know!" Amy finished making the last adjustments, then gently fitted the synthetic skin back into place with a disturbing squishing sound.

Then Amy smiled said, "Since you don't mind asking me so many personal questions, and I have given you honest answers, how's about I ask you one to make it even."

"Um, all right, I guess . . ."

Amy's smile had a slightly morbid look to it as she asked, "How does it feel knowing you have that kind of darkness lurking in your soul?"

Minako got defensive at the question. The very notion that she had it in her to do something like that couldn't be true. "I'd never hurt Ami like that, even if she walked up to me and seriously threatened my life, let alone questioned my place. It's absurd to even think it."

Amy's smile got wider as she said, "You know, every person has a dark side. It's nothing to be ashamed of. After all, even your beloved Ami-chan would tell you there is no such thing as negative emotions. That part of them that makes you just want to hurt someone when they offend you in some way. That part of you that knows that you are right, and the rest of the world is wrong. That part that knows you are better than everyone else. If I could take what you would would call that moral barrier that keeps you from acting on it, why, I bet you would be up to all sorts of things! Bet you would even start trying to take me apart right now, just for suggesting it." She folded her arms across her chest, nodded, and smiled as if that were the end of the conversation and she had won.

'Egotistical little thing, aren't you?' was Minako's thought. Amy wasn't the only one who could play mind games, though. Minako did something that Amy didn't expect. She sat back, and smiled. Minako thought to herself, 'You wanna play? All right, let's play.'

She asked simply, "How about I answer that, by asking you a question. How does it feel knowing you are missing that? That you don't have much control over your own mind, and that you are missing a part of your spirit. Must be awful."

Amy's smile vanished instantly, replaced by a look of sadness. "It's . . . sad. When you lose the ability to control your life, and can't directly question those who command you . . . well . . . you can live, but it isn't really your life." Then she started laughing and said, "This is silly of me. Why the hell am I telling you any of --" She stopped talking when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Minako was now standing beside her and said, "You know it doesn't have to be this way. We can help you. All you have to do is tell us why you are fighting us. Then we can --"

Amy stood up, pushed Minako away angrily and said, "I can't."

The blonde stepped in front of her and replied, "What do you mean, 'you can't!'? You've told me this much already! Why not just tell me a little more?"

Amy sighed and sat back down. "You don't understand. I literally can't tell you. That little part of my mind that's missing? That part that's missing in all of the Sekkou? It makes us slaves to . . . someone else's will. We have thoughts of our own, but we don't have a . . . filter to sort them out or control them or the emotions that come with them. And, we can't directly act against our master." A grim look of determination replaced the look of self-pity as she finished, "But, we can indirectly make a challenge, and challenge that authority, we will."

Amy sat quietly for several minutes thinking to herself. She would never admit it to Minako, but for some reason, she couldn't help but respect her, even if she was her enemy. She was willing to listen, after all . . .

In a flash of inspiration, another thought came to Amy. A 'plan B' scenario she could start putting in place should the Sekkou's true goal become compromised. It was risky, but it would only require a short trip to get it in motion. It wouldn't be much, just the equivalent of setting up a chess board. But for now it would do. She stood up suddenly and started heading for the door.

Minako followed her out of the room and said, "Where are you going?"

Amy looked over her shoulder and answered,"Talking to you has inspired me to do something for you in return. Call it a . . . random act of kindness. Just because I am missing a chunk of my spirit does not mean I can't do something nice. Besides, It's better than sitting around here playing twenty questions with you. I can't tell you what it is though, because . . . well, it's a surprise! Why don't we go and have a quick talk with Makoto to get our minds off of such difficult conversation?"

Minako followed the Sekkou out of the apartment, saying, "You reveal crazy sci-fi eye sockets to me and _now _you're going to surprise me? Oh, this should be good."

* * *

Ami typed in a few more commands on a computer terminal and nodded in satisfaction when she heard the main power turn on. She only had a few more things left to do before the portal was fully activated. Then she would have to pray that Amy got near a reflective surface before the Sekkou found her. 

She walked over and flipped a few switches as she finished activating the matter/anti-matter containment field as she thought about her time on this side of the portal. Her only regret was that she hadn't had the time to figure out what had happened to change things so drastically between worlds. Obviously, Beryl had something to do with it, but what?

Ami started walking up the stairs toward the portal. All she had left was literally to hit the power button, and pray that no one found her before she left.

She got to the top of the stairs, and was just about to type in the activation command when something slammed down on top of her, knocking her on her back, sending a loud clang through the room. Luckily, Serena wasn't nearly as graceful at flight as the rest of the Sekkou, and fared much worse than Ami. There was a series of loud crashing and clanging sounds as Serena crashed into the landing behind Ami, and then wound up rolling down the stairs, coming to a halt on the same landing where Ami had broken her arm. Ami quickly stood up and was just about to try again, but Serena recovered quickly and was able to land behind Ami, grab her arms, and pull her away.

The angry Sekkou yelled out, "What the hell are you doing? I said you are supposed to stay here!" Serena stepped back, frantically trying to keep Ami from completing the activation process.

Ami felt panic and anger rise up in her. If she didn't get out of here soon, it was only a matter of time before she got herself killed. Along with that was the thought she shouted out loud. "I am sick of everyone smacking me around!"

Ami kicked frantically for a moment, trying to get away. She realized Serena was trying to pull her back down the stairs. It was now or never.

Ami, still struggling to get free, shifted her weight back just as she estimated Serena was standing on the first step, causing them both to start to fall. She felt Serena's grip loosen as she started to try to regain her balance. Ami pushed back at the Sekkou with her hands as hard as she could, giving herself just enough momentum to fall forward, sending Serena crashing down the stairs again. She didn't even look back to see what had happened to Serena. She didn't care. All she wanted to do was leave. Get back to Makoto, get back to her life, and get the hell out of here.

Her finger once again stopped when she heard Serena's weak voice from below plead, "Please . . . don't go. We . . . need your . . . help."

All she had to do was push the button and walk through the portal, but Ami just couldn't do it. Something her mother had drilled into her at a young age was, no matter what, you _never_ ignore a cry for help. She sighed quietly, then walked back to the stairs and looked down.

Serena staggered to her feet, clutching her side, saying, "Just listen to what I have to say, then you can leave. I just . . . if you are anything like Amy used to be, then maybe . . . maybe you can think of a way to help."

Ami nodded. It was a simple enough request.

Serena allowed herself to sink back down to the ground slowly, resting her back against the wall, then said, "You see, everything that has happened here is my fault. It seems like so long ago now."

"It was during our last fight with Beryl. Everyone . . . all of my friends, and Darien had died. It was just me and Beryl, preparing to fight it out to the end." Serena sighed sadly, and added, "It was all too much."

Serena looked up at Ami. Even from where she stood, Ami could see the guilt in her eyes. "Beryl stood before me, prepared to destroy all that existed to get revenge on us. If I failed, everyone on the planet would have been killed. If I succeeded, all of my friends would have died for a cause no one would have known about. I . . . couldn't live with either of those choices, so I chose a different one. I made Beryl a deal."

Ami nodded and said, "What kind of a deal?" Usagi never talked about the fight with Beryl. It was just one of those things Ami felt was best not to ask about, since she figured it must have been hard on Usagi. Though, she had never thought about what must have been going through her mind at the time. Perhaps what happened here was one of the things she had been thinking about.

Serena couldn't keep eye contact with Ami while she told her story. "I told her that I could force Metaria from her body and destroy her. Then, I wanted her to bring back my friends. I told her if she did, I would give Beryl the Ginzuishou and . . . allow her to control the earth without interference from us. I remember saying, 'Think about it. Why destroy the world when you can rule it for yourself?'"

"She made one request -- that we were to serve her as replacements for her lost Shitennou. The price of failure and the price of success in my mind were both too great, so I . . ."

Ami looked down at her own hands, which she hadn't noticed she had been gripping the railing with until now. She said quietly, "So, that's why you are different from the others."

Serena nodded. The simple gesture reminded Ami so much of Usagi that for a moment, she forgot who she was talking to. "That's right. Beryl brought them back, just like she promised. But they were different. They seemed to lack remorse. The kindness they all had was gone. She . . . took away part of their souls. I, on the other hand, was normal Sailor Moon. Beryl still saw me as a threat, so she had Ami create the medication which runs through your veins. It helps me to be somewhat like the Sekkou, and binds me to the same rules as them. I was surprised Beryl didn't kill me at first. Then I realized she enjoyed watching me suffer with the knowledge that I handed my friends over to the devil. We can't defy Beryl, but perhaps you can."

Ami had just one question while Serena was being so talkative. One that would help avoid any unnecessary surprises in the future. "Where is Mamo . . .I mean, Darien?"

Serena said nothing. She didn't have to. The tears running down her cheeks said it louder than any words could have.

Ami nodded slowly. "I see." She looked down at the broken Sekkou and couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

* * *

About that same moment, Makoto was busy moving furniture around her living room. 

She hadn't reorganized the living room since her and Ami's date only two days ago. She had started this particular project to get her mind off of Ami for a while, but every time she moved something, she couldn't help think about that evening.

The latest object in the room to have her frustration wrought upon it was an end table. Makoto set it next to the couch and stepped back. That simple action got her thinking about events that had taken place on that same couch the last time Ami was over.

Ami, the one who had been through so much since this insanity started. Ami, the one who had made her life feel complete for the first time in ages. Ami, the one who shouldn't even have been involved in the fight at the mall. Ami, the one who . . .

With a frustrated yell, Makoto gave the end table a violent kick, sending it toppling over. She hadn't realized how angry she was until she spoke. "The one who isn't here!"

"Is now a bad time?"

Makoto looked toward the apartment door, but saw that it was closed. She could have sworn she had just heard 'the one' speak.

Sighing in frustration, Makoto flopped back on the couch and leaned her head back with her eyes closed. After a few moments, she whispered, "Now I'm even hearing you in my head." A small smile formed on her face as she said, "I've got it bad. But I suppose the voices in my head won't tell anyone."

"Us voices hereby promise to keep our secrets."

Green eyes flew open and looked up at a pair of beautiful familiar blue ones.

Makoto tilted her head to the side and let her smile grow larger. It was funny seeing Ami looking at her upside down since the other was leaning over from the back side of the couch to look into her eyes. Makoto raised her hands to gently hold Ami's face. Gently drawing her love closer to her she whispered, "Is it really you?"

Ami suddenly got an evil smile on her face as she whispered back huskily, "Close enough."

Amy moved just in time to avoid the punch Makoto sent flying at her face. The sudden movement combined with Amy stepping back caused the couch to nearly topple over. Makoto was on her feet in seconds to face her opponent. With tears fighting to leave her eyes, Makoto nearly screamed, "What the hell are you doing in here?" Then, without waiting for a response, she yelled, "Stop playing games with me! Get the hell out right now!"

Amy laughed, sounding indeed like it was a game. Acting as if Makoto couldn't kill her with one blow, she moved closer and stood the end table back up as she said, "Now now, that's no way to greet a friend, is it?"

Makoto pointed at the door and said, "You're no friend. Why aren't you leaving?"

"Because I am not breaking any of the rules you people set for me," Ami said, still sounding rather amused.

"Like hell you're not! Where is your escort?"

"Probably huffing and puffing her way up the stairs still, since the elevator is out of order."

Her green eyes narrowed angrily as Makoto asked, "Then how did you get up here?"

Makoto didn't realize it was possible for anyone to smile as big as Amy did when she answered, "I didn't fly, if that's what you are wondering. I walked. I used my ability to defy gravity and walked up the side of the building. Don't worry, no one saw me. You would be surprised how rarely people look straight up."

Noticing the opened glass doors leading out to the balcony, the brunette walked over and closed them, trying to keep her calm. "As soon as Minako gets here, you are leaving. Understood?"

"Actually, it's Minako I want to discuss with you."

Absently, Amy picked up a picture of Makoto and Ami then sighed. It was the very same picture of Makoto feeding Ami some chicken with chopsticks that Makoto had been admiring before her last date with Ami. The Sekkou looked suddenly lost in sad, longing thought.

Makoto's expression softened just a fraction, as she thought, 'You don't show it much but . . .' Then finishing her thought out loud she said, "You miss her too."

The expression on Amy's face for a split second after she had spoken reminded Makoto just how much the Senshi and Sekkou of Mercury had in common. Just like that though, the evil blue devil snapped the picture back down angrily.

Then she plastered a fake smile on her face and asked, "Where was I? Oh, yes. I have a favor to ask of you. You see, Mi--"

"I'm not going to do you any favors. I don't owe you a damn thing. Shut up, sit down, and wait for Minako to get here so she can get rid of you." Glaring at the door in frustration, Makoto huffed out, "Where is she anyway?"

Rolling her eyes and ignoring Makoto's instructions, Amy started over. "You see, Minako has shown me some kindness. I just figured before all of your unavoidable deaths at the Sekkou's hands, I would offer you a chance to repay the favor for me."

"Oh please. We have dealt with more powerful beings than the likes of Amy Mizuno --

Amy interrupted to correct Makoto, "Anderson."

"Whatever! You're the ones who are going to get trashed if you keep playing with us."

Sounding like she was talking to a stubborn child, Amy said calmly, "Just shut up so I can finish, will you? All you have to do is listen."

Makoto roared back, "I'm not going to listen to you! Ami wasn't supposed to be involved in that fight to begin with! We were trying to give her some time to recover from the _last _time you got your filthy paws on her! All we wanted to do was have a nice sunny Saturday at the mall and you freaks showed up and trashed it!"

Amy shrugged and said in an irritatingly cheerful tone, "None of us can hide from our destinies."

Makoto responded by waving a hand in her direction as she made an attempt to ignore Amy and resumed moving furniture. The Senshi of thunder figured the TV stand would be heavy enough to keep her distracted from Amy's words.

"You see, where I am from, Mina, that's Minako's double, is absolutely crazy about Ray, who is Rei's double. Unfortunately, Mina is strangely shy about bringing it up to Ray. So I was thinking, since things in your world are similar to things in mine . . ."

Makoto stopped moving for a moment, and shook her head. "Nope, mm-mm. Negative. Those two have shown no feelings toward each other like that."

Amy stood up, moved to the opposite side of the TV stand, leaned to the side a bit and looked into Makoto's eyes. "Come on! You didn't openly show feelings toward Ami for a long time either, I bet. Ya know, I'm thinking that's something similar to our worlds. Lita and I have been trying to set Ray and Mina up for a month now. I bet Rei and Minako had been trying for the two of you too the entire time. Don't you owe it to them to at least look into it?"

Makoto opened her mouth to say something and was cut off by Amy, "They probably looked around your computer. Tell me, how quick would it take someone to notice pictures of Ami on your computer if they were snooping around?"

The look of annoyance on Makoto's face was something Amy would have paid good money to see again, if money were still in use in her world, that is. Amy didn't have time to think about that though, because the large TV stand suddenly flew forward as Makoto tried to crush Amy between the stand and the wall in frustration.

* * *

Ami had helped Serena get to the top of the platform. It was all she could do to help Serena stand. The woman was clearly in pain. Ami said, "I'd better take a look at that. You may have broken a rib." 

Serena shook her head. "There isn't enough time. You said so yourself, your cover is blown. Once they find out, this will be the first place they look for you."

Ami forced Serena's hand away and started feeling along the Sekkou's side for any sign of injury. "If it's left untreated, it could puncture your lung. It'll only take a second."

Serena placed a hand over Ami's and said, "Don't worry about it. I'll tell them you hit me or something."

It was Ami's turn to shake her head. "No, you are coming with me. Lita knows the reason I'm here is because of you. When they find you --"

Serena sunk to her knees. As she did so, she reached out and hit the activation button on the control panel next to her. With a loud roar and a bright flash of light from the frame that made up the portal, Project Rainbow roared to life.

Ami looked behind her to see a reflection of herself staring back at her. "Is that . . . ?"

Serena nodded her head. Then she reached up, grabbed Ami's hand, and pressed something into it. Ami looked down to see another one of the star pendants used to get back to this reality. "Give that to Amy. Send her back. Now go."

Ami reached down and tried to help Serena up again. She was just about to pull the Sekkou to her feet, when Serena jerked away, stumbling backward and crashing back to the cold steel walkway again. She lay there panting for breath.

Ami tried to help her up again, but Serena raised her hand. "No. This is my fate. You have no right to decide this for me. Go, and think about what you have learned here. As strange as it sounds, you are the only hope my friends have of ever regaining their lost souls." Seeing the look of worry on Ami's face, Serena smiled and said, "Don't worry. I'll be fine. Go back to your friends and the one you love."

Seeing that smile reminded Ami so much of Usagi. She always thought of others, even the truly evil. At the same time, it made Ami believe the Sekkou meant what she said.

Just then, Ami heard something across the large room. She looked up to see the steel doors part away, and _all _of the remaining Sekkou, plus several military police storm into the room as fast as they could.

Serena shouted, "There's no time! _GO_!" With that, Dark Sailor Moon used her remaining strength to jump to her feet and shove Ami through the portal.

One moment Ami was standing in the dark room, the next, she was engulfed in a bright, blinding flash of light. Then, she heard and felt glass break all around her, as her body fell upon carpeted floor. Groaning, she rolled over, hearing the broken glass crack and feeling it cut into her more as she did so.

The next thing she was aware of, was being jerked off the ground, even off her feet, and into a tight bear hug, as someone tall and strong peppered her face with kisses between whispering over and over, "I was so worried about you!"

Ami said weakly, her head still spinning from everything that had just happened, "Makoto?"

The brunette gushed, "Ami! I am never letting you out of my sight again! I --"

Ami wheezed out, "Mako-Chan, I can't breathe!"

With that, Makoto loosened her grip around Ami, but didn't let go. Now able to breathe, Ami looked up at Makoto longingly. For a time, she had worried she would never see her again. Green eyes looked down at her, watering slightly as Makoto fought to hold back tears. They both leaned closer and --

"Aw, such a Kodak moment. I don't suppose they bothered to give you anything so I could get home, did they?" Amy stood nearby, tapping her foot on more of the broken glass. "By the way, your landlord is going to be pissed when they find out you busted your bathroom mirror, and now, the glass doors to your balcony. Somehow, I doubt you will get your deposit back when you move out."

Before Makoto could say anything, Ami tossed the Sekkou the small, star-shaped pendent Serena gave her, which Amy caught with a smug smile, as she said, "Last chance to take me out."

Ami stepped away from Makoto, and toward her double. "Wait."

Amy activated the portal, but stopped and looked at Ami curiously.

Ami shook her head as she said, "It doesn't have to be this way. Serena is right. We can try to find a way to help you, just give us time.

Amy looked at the portal, then looked at Ami as Makoto put an arm protectively around her waist. The Sekkou sighed quietly and looked down in an attempt to hide an expression that was a strange mixture of shame and anger. Despite her expression, when she spoke she sounded unemotional. "You just don't get it, do you."

Makoto said angrily, "Then explain it to us!"

Still not able to make eye contact, Amy said, "There is an old proverb that explains it better than any words I could come up with."

Angry blue eyes shot up to look at them as she said, "There once was a fox that lived in a forest who was mortal enemies with the scorpion that resided there as well. One day, there was a forest fire, and the fox ran to the river to escape. At the river's banks, he saw the scorpion. The scorpion said, 'Give me a ride on your back across the river, and I give you my word we will never fight again'. The fox said, 'Oh no, I don't think so. If I let you on my back, you will sting me and I will drown.'"

Amy stepped toward them clenching her fists angrily as she continued the old proverb. "The Scorpion replied, 'No no, if I did that, we would both drown.' The fox thought about it for a moment, then allowed the scorpion to climb up onto his back and he started to swim across the river. When they were half way there, the fox felt a sharp pain between his shoulders. The scorpion had stung him! As his limbs became weak, the Fox asked, 'Why? Why did you do that? We will both drown!"

Amy stepped back into the portal to her world. Her ghostly voice finished the story from the other side just before it disappeared. "'Because,' said the scorpion, 'tis in my nature'".


	17. Chapter 17 Minimal Damage

**Double Jeopardy **

**  
Chapter 17: Minimal Damage**

Amy reached out and hit the power button to begin the portal's deactivation process. As she did this, she never took her eyes off of Serena for a moment. To think, she had been back only seconds and already she had the woman who was responsible for all the indignity and inconvenience she had just gone through right at her feet. Injured, unable to fight back, and utterly at her mercy.

And it was all thanks to soft, weak and foolish Ami. The Dark Sekkou of Mercury had only one thought running through her mind as she moved closer to her fallen companion.

Payback time.

She stood over Serena for a moment, staring into the woman's eyes, saying nothing.

Serena's Sekkou uniform had faded to a light gray color, since she had given her medication to Ami. It had been Serena who had wanted to find a way to negotiate with the Senshi for help, rather than proceed with the more logical plan Amy had come up with that would have a higher chance of success. The Sekkou had debated it endlessly for years. In the end, once the plan was in place and ready to be launched, there was only one who disagreed. One holdout.

Serena.

Dark Sailor Moon was the only one of them who just couldn't accept that the plan was the only one that would succeed. Even with her medication, she was just too accepting of things like friendship and honesty. She was too weak, and too stupid to see the truth: the only way out of their situation would be a path paved in the blood of the innocent.

Lies, deceit, violence, were their only friends now. The Sekkou couldn't rely on such virtues . . . no, weaknesses. Weaknesses such as love, honesty and friendship to help them. The world they lived in simply didn't allow it.

It always struck Amy as illogical that the one directly responsible for the troubles they had gone through for fifteen years, and wanted most out of all of them to fix things, was also the one who would not support their decided goals. The events Serena had put in motion showed that the woman's thoughts were clearly dangerous to the plan. It was now time to try to impress on the blonde the importances of the plan.

Amy activated her visor for one second. Plenty of time to analyze where the fallen Sekkou's injuries were. Three broken ribs. Perfect.

As the visor switched off, she dropped to her knees, so that they landed on top of Serena's broken ribs. Amy ignored Serena's cries of pain as she put all her weight on her. A small smile came to the intelligent woman's face as she felt the broken segments of bone move ever so slightly under her weight.

Amy closed her eyes as she listened to the piercing scream filling the room, and nodded slowly. In a voice as cold as the ice she could call to her defense, she said, "I know it's difficult for you. Knowing we have to kill them to save ourselves. Stain our hands with blood, and become murderers. But that is how it has to be. Don't you see it? Don't you _feel _it?"

She tried to reposition herself so that even more of her weight was pressed on Serena, then continued. "This is what happens if we ask them for help, and if we give in to weakness. We suffer agonizing, painful, defeat. Either help us, or get out of our way. It is fortunate the damage done was minor. If you choose to interfere again, we will crush you." Feeling her point was made, Amy gave one more push on her knees, then stood to her feet.

Then she looked down at the foot of the stairs and noticed the other seven Sekkou coming up, along with dozens of soldiers surrounding the area with more guns than she cared to count being pointed in her direction.

Didn't they think they were overdoing it just a bit? "All right, what did I miss?" Amy said under her breath.

As her companions formed a circle around her, Amy suddenly felt uncomfortable. They didn't take their eyes off her for a moment, not even to help Serena stand up. Dark Sailor Uranus and Neptune even powered up their attacks, but held off firing them, almost as if daring the shorter Sekkou to move.

She looked at each of them, then focused on Mina and said impatiently, "Come on! It's me!"

Trista stepped in between Amy and Mina and looked down into Amy's eyes. With a voice so calm it was unnerving, Dark Saturn said, "Prove it."

Amy smiled then said, "You are a female _Canis Lupus Familiaris_." She put her hands on her hips and nodded, feeling confident in her assessment of the taller woman.

Trista didn't move. She just continued to look down at Amy with a calm straight face. When Amy realized that she hadn't understood her, she said, "What do I have to do? Spell it out for you? You are a bitch!"

Ray leaned over the railing and yelled down to some of the soldiers, "It's ok! Everything is under control!"

Amy looked up at Trista and spoke quietly so that only she could hear. "Obviously by now, you know what happened. Serena here was trying to sabotage the plan. When the rest of you fell back and I was captured, she managed to time things just right so that she could switch me with Ami. It is unfortunate that my double was able to escape. Whatever knowledge the woman gained will be of little use to her in stopping our plans, however detailed it may be. I consider this to be an . . . internal problem. There is no need to involve the authorities. We will deal with this. So long as Beryl doesn't find out, the damage is minimal."

Trista smiled sadistically and said, "Oh, let me assure you, the damage is _far_ from minimal."

The soldiers at this point had finished forming their security perimeter. As if on cue, six of them wearing riot gear made their way up the stairs and stood to either side of the outer most planetary Sekkou, pushing their way past the others as if they weren't even there. Then, five of them removed their pistols from their holsters and took careful aim at the original Sekkou while the remaining one removed a pair of handcuffs from his belt. He was careful to keep his free hand on a nightstick, just in case.

It was a rare event when mere soldiers and guards were so confident around the Sekkou, since usually such people lived only a short time after doing so. As the officer holding the handcuffs spoke, his voice sounded tiny and muffled from behind his riot gear's plexi-glass and gas mask. However, the words were unmistakable. "The five of you are under arrest for high treason against the Queen."

Mina looked as if she were going to twist the man's head off. "What?! Do you know who you are speaking to?" She took a step forward and said menacingly, "I believe you are making a mistake."

He nodded, and snapped off a salute then said, "Yes, ma'am. I am well aware of your status, name, and rank within the Grand Army. My orders come from Queen Beryl herself." With that, he stepped forward as if he had all the authority in the world.

Mina's face turned pale at those words. She was shaken out of her thoughts by Hotaru, who said, "Don't try to resist, or we will aid them in bringing you in." Mina could almost hear the girl smiling as she said, "You wouldn't want to add resisting arrest to your charges now, would you?"

The blonde glared angrily in the direction of Hotaru. She couldn't even see the girl's face since she was so much shorter than the men in front of her, but that didn't stop Mina from trying to kill her with the look she was giving. "You wanna fight, little girl?"

Amara spoke up in Hotaru's defense. "Hey, we aren't the ones who let a Senshi get within spitting distance of Beryl."

"What the --" Rei stopped herself short. Insults and swearing weren't going to get them out of this. She decided to try reasoning instead, under the circumstances. "You should be arrested right along with us for that! We didn't know what was going on any more than you did until the last moment!"

Lita glared at the other outer planetary Sekkou angrily. "What gives you the right to arrest us for things you are just as guilty of?"

Michelle walked forward and looked down at Serena with disgust. Then she gave the woman a sharp kick to the ribs and listened as the injured woman groaned loudly. Now satisfied, she said calmly, "Were you going to tell Beryl about this . . . incident? Or keep it in the dark amongst us?"

When she was greeted by silence from the five accused, the Sekkou of the Wind said, "That's what I thought."

Glaring at the officers who stood by silently during the conversation, she said, "Cuff them. Noble and glorious Queen Beryl will . . . sort this out." Her words sounded almost as if they were prison doors being slammed shut.

The journey to Queen Beryl's throne room was always an uncomfortable one for most of the Sekkou on the best of meetings. This time, Dark Sailor Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus found it difficult to hide their nervousness.

The rather long walk to Beryl's throne room was starting to unnerve the prisoners. It gave them much more time to think about things than they liked.

Amy was ghostly pale with fright while Lita stayed as close to her as she could, trying to reassure her with her presence. Ray preferred to watch her feet as she walked. Mina could feel her limbs tremble with every step. Each was lost in their own thoughts. None of them spoke. Serena was spared the stress of the journey since she was unconscious and being dragged by two guards. None of them would show fear in front of Beryl, but at the moment they had the luxury of not having to hide behind false confidence.

Much sooner than they liked, they arrived in front of the large doors. Hotaru said quietly to the lead soldier, "Leave them to us. Your services are no longer required."

The man saluted her, then turned to his men. He slapped his own wrist once and pointed back down the hall. Then, the other soldiers uncuffed the prisoners, handed the limp Serena to Amara and Michelle, did an about face, and marched away in perfect synchronization, as if they were nothing more than windup toys.

The doors opened a moment later, seeming to cause the men to march just a little faster.

"My loyal servants. Come forth." Beryl's voice called out from the darkness. The Sekkou did as they were told, lining up as before, only this time, Serena was left to lie on the floor in front of them like an unworthy sacrifice for a god.

"I give you power. I give you strength. And this is how you repay me?" Beryl walked forward from the shadows looking at the accused angrily.

Amy stepped forward and spoke, trying not to beg. "My lady, we never meant for this to happen. There was no harm done, and the damage was . . ."

The glare the tall queen gave her was more than enough to stop Amy's methodical mind.

"You allowed yourself to be captured rather than die trying to escape. You let a Senshi within an arm's reach of me, and you let her get away with a device that may allow her to return here any moment she chooses."

Amy held up the small pendant Ami had given her and spoke quickly. "That's how I got back. So you see, since I recovered the stolen technology, no harm -- "

"Silence!" Beryl snapped angrily. "Who gave you permission to speak? It doesn't matter what you managed to correct or not! The point is, you failed me!"

Hotaru and Trista smiled happily.

Beryl screamed, "_All_ of you!"

Hotaru and Trista's smiles faded quickly as Beryl addressed the two of them."Your lust for power and greed to prove yourselves better than your teammates blinds you to matters of far greater urgency. You are poor examples for your two student Sekkou, and you have dragged them with you into the bowels of failure."

Beryl looked at the four inner planetary Sekkou, with more anger than they had imagined possible. "The four of you are practically traitors. You allowed your dimwitted companion to endanger us all with her efforts to restore her failed destiny. You planned to hide this from me rather than admit your weakness."

Ray could hold her temper in check no longer. She stepped forward and yelled, "You can't hold us responsible for this!" Pointing a finger angrily at Serena, she said, "What did you expect her to do? _She's not one of us!_ She still possesses full control over her own thoughts and actions." She stomped her foot on the ground in frustration as she looked back at Beryl and said, "If anything this is all _your _fault! If it weren't for the fact that you,-- _AAAGH_!"

Ray's words were cut off when Beryl sent a wave of energy flowing through Dark Mars, causing her to fall to the ground, writhing in agony. Beryl finally stopped electrocuting her servant and looked at the others. The only sound in the room was Ray's whimpering as she crawled back to her place in line and stood obediently back up, much like a beaten dog returning to its master's side.

Finally the queen said, "I don't tolerate insubordination and deceit from anyone, especially from the likes of you."

At that moment, Serena groaned loudly and started to roll over as she came back to reality.

As she came to, for the first time in over a decade, Serena found herself out from under the influence of the medication Beryl and Amy had engineered. Her uniform was the familiar pure white uniform she had worn when she first became a Senshi. Despite the pain, she pushed herself off the floor so that she was kneeling in front of Beryl. For the first time in a long time, not out of fear or loyalty, but out of weakness from her injuries. Still, she did her best to be strong, if only for her friends, even if they didn't appreciate it or understand.

The sudden movement got Beryl's attention and she said quietly, "However, I suppose you are correct. Sailor Moon is too dangerous."

Beryl looked down at the weak Senshi, keeping her expression and voice neutral as she spoke. "I have kept you around as a trophy, Sailor Moon. For no other purpose than to gloat over you, the fallen mighty Senshi. The one who would deliver her entire world, and the very spirit of her friends to her enemy, just to save their pathetic and useless lives. The descendant of Queen Serenity reduced to but a prize, and no more."

"Perhaps . . ." a wicked smile formed on Beryl's lips as she thought for a moment. "Perhaps, I have no further need of a trophy for a victory long since won. It is time for me to correct the one flaw in our plans. Good bye, Sailor Moon."

Beryl raised her hands summoning dark energy between them. As Amy watched, something stirred within the depths of chaos that was her cybernetic brain. At first she thought it was a program loop or some technical error from the damage Haruka had inflicted on her. But within seconds it became a full fledged thought. One she couldn't just ignore, no mater how much she would have liked to.

'_This is . . . wrong!_ Serena was my friend wasn't she? Sure she screwed up all the time, and was down right stupid. But she was the first person other than my mother to treat me like a normal human being. With kindness and warmth. She was my friend. She _is _my friend! Beryl has no right to kill her, does she?'

Just before Beryl sent the blast of energy hurtling toward its target, and despite the fact that she could barely understand the logic of why she was even moving, Amy bolted forward.

Lita tried to reach out to her to stop her. In a frantic last attempt, Dark Jupiter yelled, "What the hell are you doing?" But it was already too late. She watched with horror as Amy reached Serena with a fraction of a second to spare, right when Beryl hurtled her attack down toward Serena. There was a sudden flash of bright purple light, blinding everyone.

When Lita's eyes cleared, she was horrified when she saw that Amy simply wasn't there. She was gone! Seemingly vanished into thin air.

Lita could feel intense anger welling up within her. She glared at Beryl, preparing to do the unthinkable, when she noticed Beryl was looking behind the line of Sekkou with a look of mild interest. Seeing one strand of hope to grasp, Dark Jupiter turned around.

The attack had sent Dark Mercury flying over them, where she had crashed on the hard, unforgiving ground. She was badly injured, missing most of her right leg, while a fury of sparks flew from her now-damaged robotic parts as she tried to move. Luckily, the small explosion had cauterized the wound to her leg. Otherwise, she would have bled to death in minutes.

Lita ran to her wife, no longer caring what Beryl's reaction would be. As she did so, she noticed Amy apparently didn't know she was missing a leg yet, because she kept trying to stand.

As Lita gently lifted her broken lover into her arms, Beryl said, almost to herself, "Why did you do that? Surely not out of loyalty or friendship." She snapped her full attention toward Amy. The look she gave the injured Scout was enough to convey she demanded an explanation.

Amy blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision, both from the bright explosion and the pain, as she responded weakly, "She's our friend. I understand fully the necessity of having her executed. It's too dangerous to give her the opportunity to damage our plans further." She coughed for a moment, and a small amount of blood ran down the corner of her mouth as she finished, "But she is our friend and comrade. If anyone is going to kill her, it should be one of us!"

Beryl nodded once and said, "How right you are." Then she turned to Trista and said, "Dark Sailor Saturn! Now is your chance to redeem your dignity and honor in my eyes!" She smiled and like someone sicking a dog on its prey she said, "Kill her."

As Dark Saturn walked forward with a bloodthirsty look in her eyes, Serena got to her feet. Looking defiantly up at Beryl she said, "It doesn't matter what happens to the Sekkou, or me. The Senshi will defeat you and bring your reign of terror to an end. Even you know in your twisted heart this is the truth."

Beryl looked into Serena's eyes and said calmly, "Perhaps you are right, perhaps not. Regardless of the outcome, I will always have the satisfaction of watching the life leave your eyes." Then she nodded to Serena's executioner.

To her credit, Serena met Beryl's gaze, unafraid of her fate until the very end. One swing from Trista's glaive, not much more than a mere flick of the wrist, cleanly removed Serena's head. The deed done, Sailor Moon's body fell to the ground, landing moments after her head crashed next to it, ending her disgrace and defeat once and for all.

Beryl snapped a finger, and Serena's body burst into flame, crumbling to dust. Just as the previous times she had done this to other Sekkou, a small light, little more than a spark, rose from the ashes of the doomed.

The mighty queen reached out and grasped it in her hands. She looked at the spark as if it were a captured firefly and admired her handiwork. Then she clenched her hands together tightly and said, "I could destroy you right now, but I have a better use for you. Something much better than a mere trophy could ever be used for."

She threw Serena's soul back toward the ashes of her body, then as before with Amara and Michelle, she pointed the Ginzuishou toward Serena's remains. Dark energy swirled around the dust, and in the center could faintly be seen a form being rapidly pieced back together, bit by bit, as Serena was slowly reborn. Reborn, with . . . improvements . . . from Beryl. Something between a scream of sorrow and a laugh of insanity could be heard coming from Beryl's latest abomination as the process ended.

Beryl admired her new creation for a moment, then casually waved a hand to dismiss them, saying, "Go. Make your plans, fight your enemies, and do not come before me again until you have one of their heads on a platter."

* * *

Lita always found Lunatech's cybernetics lab to be a cold, uncomfortable place to pay a visit to. The walls were made of stainless steel, the floors nothing more than boring white tile. The smell of disinfectants hovered in the air always. It was as if it were designed to lack as much spirit and emotion as possible. 

The cyberneticists and surgeons had attached Amy's new leg. Also, due to damage and since Amy was overdue for an overhaul anyway, they went ahead and replaced most of her existing prosthetic and orthotic parts. The process was extremely painful to endure so, halfway through, Amy was allowed to rest.

She currently lay on a cold steel examination table, draped in nothing but a clear sheet of plastic, making her appear as if she were on some kind of sick, twisted display before the altar of science. The next process involved putting the calciplastic covering over the metal supports, artificial muscle, and then the artificial skin. Then attaching the electrodes and neurons that would allow her to feel and control the new parts. It was always difficult for Lita to see her like this, but it was the only time during the process she was allowed in to comfort her lover.

Her new leg gleamed in the low light of the operating room, little more than thin rods of titanium, its pistons and wires yet untested by its new owner. Her left hand had undergone extensive modification, so her usual soft, warm fingers showed their true form, that of nothing more than cold steel with wires looped around metal and plastic.

It was always Amy's head that bothered Lita most to see when she was in this state. All of the synthetic flesh, outer eye, and even the tan calciplastic that replaced part of her skull were removed, revealing nearly a quarter of the contents of Amy's head for all to see. A camera looked out from within the maze of wires and steel, staring blankly up at the ceiling through a hole that would eventually be an eye again.

It made a quiet whirring sounds as it went through it's calibration process. Tiny lights shining from diagnostic equipment built into her brain blinked in a steady coordinated pattern. Cool steel electrical conduits, circuit boards, and various diagnostic outlets were weaved through salvageable brain tissue and flesh. The cords running from outlets built into her brain ran to diagnostic computers on the other side of the room made for the last unfeeling touch.

The sight of her head in this state was always a reminder of how amazing it was that Amy had survived the fight with Dark Venus at all. Still, Lita knew that deep down, Amy dreamed of death. She hated living like this. That was probably part of why Beryl hadn't punished Amy by killing her like she usually did to the rest of the Sekkou.

But then, when Lita was honest with herself, they alllonged for death's sweet release in their own way. Amy was just a bit more open about it at times.

At least, alone, the two could be somewhat themselves. They didn't have to put on a strong front for the other Sekkou, spend every breath trying to strike fear into the hearts of the Senshi, or bicker about their own selfish goals. When they were alone, it was just Amy and Lita, pure and simple. It was a bond not even Beryl's evil spells could break.

Lita's first hint that Amy had woken up was the small camera-like eye turned to look at her a moment before Amy's real eye opened slowly.

Lita shook her head sadly as she gently held Amy's hand. There was only one thing she wanted to know at the moment. The same thing she had called out to her partner when she had dashed madly in front of Serena. "What were you thinking?"

Amy sighed quietly, then sat up, clutching the cold sheet of plastic covering to her in a vain attempt to keep warm. She looked away from her wife in shame, not wanting to admit the truth behind her thoughts at that moment. A warm hand touched her cheek, turning her face so she was looking back up into green eyes.

"Don't be like that. Don't hide from me. You scared the hell out of me. I deserve an answer, and you know it." Lita sighed herself when Amy turned her eyes away again, clearly trying to find a different topic of conversation. Before she could, Lita said somewhat irritated, "What if you had been killed? Did you even stop to think about that?"

The last comment got Amy's attention. She grumbled in self-pity, "If I had been killed, Beryl would have brought me back to life since she still thinks she needs me. At least then, I wouldn't need cold steel and electrical conduits laced through me to move."

Lita rolled her eyes. Leave it to Amy to find a way to stay on topic and still avoid it at the same time. "Let me try this again. What were you thinking? Did you stop to think that what you were doing was insane? Even by our standards?"

Amy finally met Lita's gaze and said, "Did you ever stop to think that what we are doing might be wrong?"

Lita dropped her hands to her sides and started laughing, as if the comment were a hysterical joke. Shaking her head again as she forced herself to stop laughing, she said, suddenly angry, "Of course it's wrong! Everything about our lives is wrong! Everything is unfair, tilted the wrong way. That's just how things are for us." She grabbed Amy's shoulders and shook her gently, trying to bring her back to reality and said, "You know that already."

Amy looked up and away from Lita and smiled wistfully. "Do you know what they were doing while we were planning how best to smear their blood all over the walls?" When Lita said nothing, Ami continued, "planning an outing to the mall to go shopping, that's what."

Amy put her hands over Lita's, guiding them away from her shoulders. "Something so simple." She clasped their hands together in front of her for a moment, toying with her lover's hands in hers, lost in thought.

Then she gripped them gently, looked back into Lita's eyes and said, not caring how childish it sounded, "I want to go to the mall too. I want to enjoy a sunny afternoon without a care in the world."

It still didn't completely answer Lita's question, but it was enough. She asked, "You're having second thoughts, is that it?"

Amy looked away again, turning her still calibrating robotic eye toward Lita as she did so. After sorting her thoughts she said, "No. I know what we have to do. And while it's wrong in so many ways . . . I know it's the right thing to do. The ends justify the means. It's just . . . in a small way, don't you feel guilty about it?"

Lita said, "Try not to think of it as guilt. Think about the fact that If they were in our shoes . . ."

Amy nodded her head slowly, but didn't look at Lita. It was the same thing she herself used to say to Serena to try to convince her what they were doing was right. "Then they would do the exact same thing." Somehow, having her own words thrown back at her seemed unfair.

Lita sighed as she ran a hand through her hair in frustration. This whole thing had been Amy's idea to start with, and It wasn't like Amy to have doubts about anything. Especially not her own ideas.

She put her hands on Amy's shoulders again, and said calmly, "Ok, look. I know the process will be hard on them. And while we are technically going to have to kill them for your plan to work, it's not like we are truly going to kill them right? We're just --"

Amy interrupted with, "They'll wish for death any day over what we have in store for them. It's just . . ." Amy sighed again, feeling frustrated with her own thoughts as much as Lita was.

She swung her legs back on to the operating table and laid back down. She absently wiggled her new steel toes as she spoke, "You know, when you do experiments on lab rats, there isn't much problem. Some times you wind up killing them in brutal ways, terrible ways, all in the name of science. It's not a problem. You just dispose of the bodies and be done with them. But what happens when you start to truly see a little bit of yourself in the rats?"

Lita pulled the plastic sheet over Amy and said, "Then you look yourself in the mirror, and tell yourself to do what must be done. It's as simple as that. Ya gotta just cut off their little heads. You always do." Delicately patting Amy's shoulder, she said, "That's one reason I love you. You always come through in the end. I have to go, and you need to rest up for the rest of your surgery. By the time you get done, you'll have forgotten all about this."

She kissed Amy tenderly on the cheek and then whispered, "And if that doesn't get your mind off of it, I know some things that we can do when we are somewhere . . . more private . . . that will."

Amy rolled her eye, then closed it as she said under her breath, "That's all you think about isn't it." The light blush that tinged her cheeks told Lita that despite Amy's comment, it had gotten the shorter woman's attention moving in a different direction.

Lita threw her a smile and said as she walked out, "Get some rest. You'll be needing it later."

Amy started taking deep breaths to clear her head of unnecessary thoughts while trying to will her body to go back to sleep. The cold steel beneath her, and the feeling of vulnerability she had from being naked with nothing but the thin clear plastic to cover her was more than unsettling.

Just when she finally managed to get almost comfortable, she heard footsteps entering the room. As they drew closer, Amy opened her eye and said quietly, "Look Lita, you're right. I truly do need to --"

The eyes she looked into didn't belong to Lita.

Trista and Hotaru stood over her, looming like shadows in the night.

Amy narrowed her eye at them, and did her best to cover herself with her arms beneath the sheet. Yes, vulnerable was a good description for how she felt at the moment. She didn't need to speak to get her point across. Everything about her expression and body language screamed, 'Go away!' When the two didn't, she rolled over onto her side and curled up into a ball, thinking, 'Maybe if I ignore them, they will leave me alone.'

Hotaru said, "Oh, come now, don't be like that, with the cold shoulder and all." She started to reach out with her hand to place it on Amy's shoulder.

Ami growled, "If those fingers so much as touch me, I swear I'll give you the opportunity to find out what having a prosthesis for a hand is like."

Trista brought up the butt of her staff and pushed Hotaru's hand away delicately as she said, "Come now, Hotaru. We mustn't upset her. After all, we want her to be our partner in our little scheme."

A little scheme. The last thing Amy wanted to think about at the moment. She was involved in so many 'little schemes' already. They stretched like a spider web through her mind. She wanted none of it. "Just leave me alone," she said, squeezing her eye tightly shut.

Trista decided to at least offer their little rabbit a carrot to get her attention, and leave it to her to decide whether to bite or not. "Fine, then. Ignore us if you must, but you will hear us. You can give us your answer later."

As Trista and Hotaru confided in Amy their plan, for her part, Amy continued to remain silent. But she had to admit to herself, it was a good plan. And within the darker confines of her soul, she was more than tempted by their offer. It was, after all, a good plan.


	18. Chapter 18 Hell Hath No Fury

**Double Jeopardy **

**Chapter 18: Hell Hath No Fury**

Ami sat in a small, uncomfortable chair. One, no doubt, usually saved for students who had earned a rightful place in this very seat. The room was rather plain. Aside from the chair Ami sat in, the only other furniture in the room were a large wooden desk, an old steel filing cabinet, a dusty bookshelf with books possibly older than the school, and an antiquated desk chair for the desk's occupant. Even the walls were dull. Cool cinder block painted white, the only thing gracing them being a picture of the current emperor of Japan and a faded college doctorate belonging to the man sitting on the other side of the desk.

Principal Takahashi shuffled some papers as he finished reading another report. So far, the man hadn't even acknowledged she was there, other than to tell her to enter the room and have a seat when she knocked. She had been here for five minutes already, and the waiting was starting to get to her.

He was an older gentleman, in his late sixties with neatly trimmed gray hair and a clean shaven face. He was generally neat in appearance, with dark, thick-rimmed glasses that gave him a rather eccentric look. He was usually held in high regard amongst the teachers and staff for being fair. And while he and his room didn't look it, he was rumored to have a wicked sense of humor. He had hired Ami straight out of college because he remembered when she was a student at his school. He had a lot of respect for her.

She didn't dare speak, though. She had no idea why she was here, but somehow, she knew it had to do with her double's behavior from the day before. Hotaru had warned her about just a few of the things she had seen and heard already, and any one of them was enough to get her into trouble.

At least, he had told her to speak to him after her last class. That way, if she got sacked, she wouldn't have to deal with as many students staring at her as she left.

And, like all good principals, Principal Takahashi had a strong dislike for trouble. He put the stack of papers off to the side, folded his hands in front of him and looked at Ami. "Do you know why you are here, Mizuno Sensei?"

Ami didn't know what to say, so she just looked down and shook her head. How could she? She hadn't even been teaching yesterday.

He looked at the stack of papers again, and said, "I got fifteen phone calls from rather angry parents yesterday. All upset because of how you treated their wonderful little babies. Would you care to explain yourself, Mizuno Sensei?"

Again, Ami answered honestly, this time working up enough courage to look him in the eyes. If she was going to be fired, she was at least going to do it with dignity. "I'm sorry, sir. I guess you could say I just wasn't myself yesterday."

Takahashi looked down at his desk in disappointment, and said, "Damn it, Mizuno, PMS isn't a good excuse for putting twenty-five students in detention and making students run more laps than their gym teachers would." He looked back up again, this time with a deadly serious expression on his face, and gently thumped his hand on his desk to emphasize each word as he spoke. "Now, I want an answer."

Ami turned beet red at the man's rather insensitive comment. That hadn't exactly been what she meant. She stuttered, "Well . . . you see, sir . . . I . . . well . . ." What in the world was she supposed to say?!

He raised a hand, a small smile appearing on his lips. Sounding rather amused, he said, "It's okay, Mizuno. I know why you did it." He sighed and leaned back in his chair, put his feet up on the desk, and said, "It's my own fault, I suppose."

Ami, her face still pink, looked back up in confusion and spoke, unable to keep herself from sounding dumbstruck, "Sir?" Then, feeling that was the wrong thing to say, she stammered, "I mean . . . I'm sorry, sir! It won't happen again!"

The principal laughed and waved a hand in her direction, then said, "It's quite all right, Ami. I never expected during your last review you would take me so seriously when I told you you were too lenient with your students and to put the smackdown on them from time to time. Personally, I'm rather proud of you. It's nice to see one of my teachers finally standing up to those damn kids!"

Ami looked at him with a blank expression, not sure whether to be worried or relieved.

Allowing his smile to grow, he said, "Just . . . next time, try not to scare poor Kitsune to death. Now, I know that girl needed some sense knocked into her, but there are better ways to go about doing it than trying to beat her over the head with a rather large book. And the whole thing with Satsuki could have been left out. I don't think she appreciated being made into an example like that." Barely able to keep himself from laughing, he said, "But personally, I would have loved to have been there to see the whole thing!"

He summed up his assessment as he stood up to open the door, saying, "Don't worry about the parents, I'll handle them. Keep up the good work, Miss Mizuno."

Ami bowed politely, and her boss did the same. As Ami walked out, he said, "One more thing, Mizuno Sensei."

Ami stopped, feeling fear grip her soul as she slowly turned around. Why couldn't this be over?

He simply smiled as he sat back down at his desk. Then he raised a fist in the air and said, "Give 'em hell!"

Unsure of what to say, she decided to bow once again, and scurried back to the classroom to pick up some of her supplies she had left behind.

When she got there, she stopped in the doorway and just stared at the sight before her. Standing in neat rows beside their desks, as still and silent as statues, was an entire room full of students quietly waiting for her. They just stood there at attention, staring blankly into space, awaiting her orders. It had been this way all day long, in every single class she had taught. She just hadn't expected to see the same thing after the end of the school day, since she hadn't realized her double had given them detention for more than one day.

Ami walked to the center of the room and said, almost shyly, and feeling more than a little embarrassed, "Do all of you have detention?"

Not surprisingly, none of them spoke. Though Ami noticed Hotaru standing amongst the students with a small smirk on her face, no doubt amused at Ami's reaction to seeing twenty five students in the room serving detention.

Ami nervously ran a hand through her hair in thought. This was a bit of a problem. She really didn't have time to stay and torment these children today. As she looked around, she came to the conclusion that most of them probably didn't deserve to be here anyway.

"Uh . . . I'm going to let you all go. Forget about showing up the rest of the week, too. I was having . . . something of a bad day yesterday, and I may have overreacted. You are all free to go."

Naturally, no one moved. What were they waiting for?

Ami blinked in confusion. Most of the children ran out the room without so much as a goodbye most days, and now, when given the chance to flee a week's worth of detention, they wouldn't leave? Why weren't they leaving?

"Go on . . . go. You can go now."

The only movement in the room was Hotaru's ever increasing grin. Feeling some sympathy for Ami, she moved her lips, clearly trying to give her a hint without making a sound.

At first, Ami didn't get it. Then, Ami said just a bit too loudly, "OH! Class dismissed!" With those magic words, the usual stampede of students finally began.

* * *

Toward the middle of the day, Makoto had found the time to call Rei and ask her something. At first, the brunette had made a lame attempt at small talk, and then almost sounded like she had thought better of bringing up whatever it was that had been on her mind. But when Makoto finally worked up the nerve to ask Rei, it had floored her.

It was a simple question, really. Makoto had said, "What do you think of Minako?"

At first, Rei hadn't realized what Makoto had meant by that. She had said something lame about her being a great and valiant leader and a terrible radio D.J. But when Makoto simply repeated the question, Rei understood perfectly what the woman was trying to ask her.

At first, Rei had been angry at Makoto for prying into her personal life. But as the two talked (well . . . more like argued), Makoto told her what Amy had said, which eventually lead to the Miko's confession to having something of a slight long-time crush on their mutual blonde friend. Then, Makoto suggested that Rei "Give it a try. After all, what was the worst that could happen?"

Again, Rei had started screaming at Makoto. It was crazy! Minako hadn't shown the least bit of interest in women as far as Rei could tell. The woman was so guy crazy it was almost unhealthy at her age.

Somehow, the conversation had ended with Makoto pressuring Rei into asking Minako out on a date. Rei now stood in front of Minako and Ami's apartment, unsure of what to do next. The advice Makoto had given her seemed to be both a blessing from heaven if it was right, and a curse from hell if it was horribly, horribly misguided.

For the fifth time, Rei brought her hand up to knock on the door, thought better of it, and started pacing again.

She stopped and looked at the apartment number on the door as if it would give her an answer to her unasked questions. Finally, she said out loud to herself, "All right. Now or never." She brought up her fist to knock on the door, and wound up clocking Minako in the chin as the other opened it at that exact moment.

"OW! What did you do that for!?" Minako asked as she took a step back, rubbing her chin with her fingers.

Rei was unapologetic. "Well, if you had waited three seconds, I would have knocked."

As Rei walked in, Minako said, "Um . . . Rei? We have a doorbell."

Minako could tell by the time Rei sat down on the couch that she was nervous, just by the way she moved. There was only one thing she could think of that made Rei nervous, and Minako felt she was obviously the best person to go to for such advice.

Not wanting to show that she was already onto Rei's guy problems, Minako said casually, "So, what brings you to my forest of necks?"

Rei drummed her fingers on the couch, momentarily distracted from her feelings. "Don't you mean, what brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"I like my way better," Minako said with a laugh.

Minako's guest rolled her eyes. Usually, she found her friend's attempts at improving puns a bit amusing, but at the moment it just made her that much more self-conscious. Rei got back up and walked toward the kitchen to get something to drink while she thought about what to say. She only made it about halfway, when a soft, gentle hand landed on her shoulder to stop her.

Her friend's words were meant to be reassuring, but they didn't help. If anything, they only increased her anxiety. With her beautiful, musical voice, Minako said, "Come on, Rei. You came to me for help, and now you are avoiding me. Just spit it out already. What's wrong? It can't be that bad."

Not turning around to look at her friend, Rei said nervously, "Well . . . Minako, you see . . . it's like this . . ."

* * *

"Reject me, will she?" the woman said quietly into the darkness. "She will never know what she has denied herself." Quietly feeling around for something, she continued her rant. "I'll show her. I'll show all of them. When I final -- OW!" She stopped talking a moment to rub her head where she had hit it on a low steel support.

Stomping her foot angrily, Mina yelled, "Damn it! Why does this place have to be so dark! How am I supposed to do this when I can't even find the Da --" She stopped talking when the lights suddenly flickered on.

Stepping out from behind a computer terminal in the portal generator room, Amy said, "There is one light switch next to the door when you first come in, and several located throughout the room. Personally, I never use the lights when I am by myself, since I can find my way around here in the dark by using the diagnostic lights on the equipment as a guide."

Mina walked past the lower ranked Sekkou and asked, unable to hide her irritation with the woman, "What are you doing here?"

Amy shrugged and said simply, "I could ask you the same thing. Though if you must know, I was just about to run a calibration test on the bi matter anti/matter reactor chamber. It's rather interesting, if you'd care to join me."

Dark Venus turned away and gripped her hands on a railing tightly as she tried to control her anger. It was obvious to her that Amy was only doing her job, and nothing more. If the Sekkou didn't need project rainbow so badly, she would have killed Amy right now to try to cover up what she was about to do. How was she supposed to do this, if there was a witness she couldn't kill?

Without another word, Amy went back to her work, nearly oblivious to the fact Mina was even there anymore. That was the interesting thing about Amy. So long as the little hack had a computer or chemistry set of any complexity within arm's reach, she was happy.

It didn't matter anyway, now that Mina thought about it. After all, even with the technical instruction book, their wasn't any way she could figure out how to activate the generators on her own.

Just as she was about to give up all hope of trying to find out if her hunch was correct, an idea came to her. "Hey, um, Amy? Does that cool little test you are running involve turning on the portal generator?"

Hefting out a huge spare parts box, Dark Mercury smiled. Such deceptively innocent expression on her face. Mina couldn't help but laugh to herself as she thought, 'The little geek probably thinks I'm actually interested in her screwing around.'

The bluenette answered, "Yes. It's already on, actually. Per safety protocol, it has to be in order to even open the diagnostic equipment for the chamber. All you'd have to do is grab your assigned pendent, and provided there is a subject on the other end near a reflective surface, anyone could get through. Why?" Amy turned her back to Mina as she opened up a panel to check some readings on some other nameless device.

While Amy made a few adjustments to a gauge, Mina bent down and selected a steel pipe from the box. She examined it carefully, since she wanted a nice, sturdy one. It made her angrier that Amy felt she needed to go on and on about how the damn machine worked, since she already knew that.

Just as Amy was about to turn around, Mina slammed the steel pipe into the back of the other woman's skull, and watched with no small amount of satisfaction as she fell to the ground without uttering a sound.

"That will teach you to pretend to be so damn superior," Mina said as she walked to the cabinet the pendants were located in.

* * *

Rei slammed the door to her room, flopped down on her bed and buried her face in her pillow in a pathetic attempt to hide from the world. However, it was impossible to hide from her own thoughts.

And she only had one on her mind at the moment. 'How could she have said _no?_'

With her face still buried in the pillow, she screamed as loud as she could. She could feel her pillow slowly becoming wet beneath her face, but she didn't care. Finally giving up on the pillow, she curled up into a ball, and in self pity mixed with an unhealthy dose of anger, she asked no one in particular, "How _dare_ she say no?"

She couldn't stand the thought of it. She was so sure that Minako would say yes and throw herself into Rei's arms. Instead, Minako had held Rei's hand and proceeded to tell her how she greatly appreciated Rei, but she just didn't feel that way about her. She had gone on to tell Rei how sorry she was, and that she would 'always be your friend.'

Rei had felt an initial wave of shock, then embarrassment, and next, hurt. Then, she was blinded by pure, burning rage.

Rather than face Minako any longer and confront the problem, the hotheaded Miko had once again done what she did best. Let her temper control her. After slamming the door in Minako's face, she had run as fast and as far away as she could, too hurt and too angry to give a damn about what Minako thought of her abrupt departure.

For the thousandth time, Rei couldn't help but think how unbelievable it was to be rejected by the woman she had been secretly longing for. Didn't Minako know how that would make Rei feel? Didn't she know how much that would hurt her? Didn't she care?

Rei felt her tears run down her cheeks as she squeezed her eyes shut. Then, becoming angry at the fact she was crying like a baby, she growled loudly, and threw her pillow over her shoulder as hard as she could in an attempt to work out some frustration.

Then a few seconds later, something unexpected happened. The pillow she had thrown just moments ago smacked her on the back of the head. Too angry to think, Rei grabbed the pillow and sat up, fully prepared to hurl it back at her attacker, and yelled, "Who threw that?"

Standing in the doorway, her short old grandfather leaned on his cane. Unable to hide his amusement, he smiled and said, "I was just about to ask you the same thing."

Instead of giving her usual customary sarcastic reply, all Rei did was glare at the old man, and without a word, curled back up into a ball, being sure not to face him. And for an added bit of good measure, she shoved the pillow back over her face.

While the look he had gotten at Rei's face had been brief, it had been long enough for him to see she had been crying.

The bald man shook his head in disappointment. He had known Rei was angry about something the moment she had come home. Though he hadn't noticed that she was this upset. It was always bad when Rei didn't want to talk, because that meant she would bottle it up and stew over it until she snapped.

Which always put him in the rather difficult position of having to be the one to open up that bottle before it got to be too much pressure for her. He had done this many times before, of course. But that never made dealing with a human fire cracker like Rei any easier.

It was best to handle these things delicately.

He walked cautiously toward Rei, making enough sound so she would know he was coming in. Then, when he reached the bed, he sat down beside her and said almost casually, "Want to talk about it?"

From her hiding place behind the pillow, Rei's muffled voice replied, "Oh, sure! I just love to discuss getting my heart ripped into a billion pieces. It's fun!"

Rei's grandfather rolled his eyes and held his head with one hand. So, it was about yet another rejection from yet another man. He usually told Rei something lame, like 'there are plenty of fish in the sea', but it was getting old even to him to hear himself say that.

He truly wished Rei would quit focusing on men who didn't care for her, and work more toward joining the priesthood instead. However, years of experience had taught him that it was best to stay on topic with Rei and nag her about that later.

He decided to try showing curiosity in whatever the event was that had set her off. Perhaps that would at least start her talking, which sometimes could lead to her just venting and working things out on her own. "So, what did they say?"

Rei squeezed her pillow tighter to her face and said, "Just the dreaded 'let's be friends' routine."

Patting Rei's shoulder he said, "Now now, Rei. I'm sure it's not as bad as all that. I'm sure whoever this gentleman was probably didn't want to hurt you is all."

Rei finally sat up on the bed and looked down at him. "Who said anything about some nameless guy?"

The bald man looked a bit perplexed as he said, "If it's not some decent young man who has broken your heart, then --"

Rei could feel her left eye actually twitch as she said in frustration, "With as often as Minako has visited here over the years, you mean to tell me you don't know?"

A blank expression passed over her grandfather's face as he processed the information. Then, he said, "You mean . . . all this time you have been trying to convince Minako to . . ."

A huge smile appeared on his face as he came to the wonderful conclusion. He had no idea Rei had cared that much about that!

Once he was able to put his thoughts into words, he continued, ". . . become a shrine maiden? Oh, Rei! I am so proud of you! I take it she said no, then. It's too bad. She would have made a wonderful Miko, and would have brought quite a few more people to visit our lowly shrine. I must say, I do think you are overreacting, but it does disappoint me too. Why, I myse --"

In frustration, Rei put her hand over her grandfather's mouth until he stopped talking. Apparently, she would have to spell it out to him. Once she was sure the old man was paying attention she said, "No, Grandpa. Minako is the one who broke my heart. She didn't say no to being a Miko, because that's not what I was trying to ask her. She said no to _me_."

Her old grandpa pulled Rei's hand away from his mouth and started laughing. Then, between chuckles he said, "I know! She said no to me, too! Many times have I brought up this suggestion to her. I know sometimes I can be a lecherous old fool, but still, I hoped she would have said yes. Still, Rei, I don't think you should be crying over . . ."

The look Rei shot him would have caused a lesser man to burst into flames. Suddenly, what Rei was truly trying to say sunk in. Still, Rei felt it best to say it out loud, just in case her elder had missed the train of thought again. "I asked her out! You know, on a date!"

When her grandfather said nothing, Rei looked away from him suddenly unable to meet his eyes, and spoke slower, worried she had upset him. "I am old enough, after all. You did say I could start dating when I turned 16, and . . . well . . . I'm 29 now, so . . . I sorta thought . . . ya know . . ."

Rei shook her head in frustration with herself. Could she have possibly found a lamer way to word that?

Curious about his reaction, Rei looked back at her grandfather. She saw him with a truly shocked expression and clutching his chest. In panic, Rei grabbed him and started shaking violently. "Oh, no! You're not having a heart attack, are you? Where did you put the Aspirin? Quickly! Tell me!"

As Rei continued to shake him, he said, sounding panicked himself, "Oh, no! They must have found my extra secret stash! Oh spirit of my beautiful daughter, forgive me! I have been a horrible influence on your child and her friends!"

Rei pushed her grandpa back as she jumped off the bed, and in shock said, "What!? This has nothing to do with your stash of naughty mags! This is raw emotion and love I am talking about here! I made up my mind on my feelings for Minako long before we found those filthy things! We only looked at that one out of curiosity when I found them under the couch! Why on earth you would keep those there is beyond me!"

At that thought, Rei's voice trailed off as she started to tell her grandfather about that day, "That was back during our last year of high school. Poor Ami. She was so shocked by that one picture Minako showed her that none of us heard from her for a week or two afterward . . ."

"What!?!" This time it was her grandpa's turn to jump off the bed in surprise. He looked up and yelled, "I was only trying to give you a taste of the shock you just put me through! I didn't know you actually found those! Those are for your Grandpa's eyes only! I don't care if you are of age to look at them now or not!"

Rei was about to scream another surprised comment, when another thought entered the back of her mind. Suddenly sounding calm for the first time since returning home, she said, "You mean . . . you aren't upset about me trying to get together with a girl?"

He gave her one of his usual cheesy smiles and said, "Of course I'm not. Your mother taught me the joys of tolerance long before Rei Hino came along."

Folding his small arms into his robes, he continued, sounding irritated, "Though, you have no right going through my secret stash. That's personal, and a rather rude thing to do, at that! And don't try to lie to me. I happen to know you have gone through it on far more than one harmless bout of curiosity!"

Then he looked back up into Rei's eyes and started to laugh again. Another thing his late daughter had taught him was that seeing someone else laugh could some times make even the angriest person happy again.

Rei gave him a small smile. Not much of one, but it was there, and that was what mattered. Rei said quietly, "Thank you, Grandpa. I --"

Rei's words were interrupted by the ringing of the telephone in the hallway. With the immediate crisis over, her grandfather politely excused himself so he could answer it.

Alone with her thoughts once again, Rei flopped back down on her bed. She still stung from her rejection from Minako, but some how, talking to her quirky grandfather helped her to realize in the back of her mind, that it was unfair to be angry at her friend. After all, her friend truly meant it when she said they would still be friends. Rei doubted this would change much between them in the long run. Though she didn't doubt it would make life in the near future somewhat strange, to say the least.

Rei's musing was interrupted by a quiet knock on her door. Her grandfather once again opened it and said, sounding rather confused, "Rei, it's for you." He held out his short arm, holding the phone toward her from the other side of the door and said, "It's Minako."


	19. Chapter 19 The brilliance of Simplicity

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 19: The brilliance of simplicity **

For the moment, Makoto didn't have to worry about work, since her restaurant was now undergoing a massive remodel. Thus, she had plenty of time to chauffeur Ami around until she got a new car, which gave her the wonderful opportunity to spend just a little more time and to take her out for a date after a hard day's work. After everything the teacher had been through, Makoto felt she could use a night out on the town.

The problem was coming up with something that would get her girlfriend back home in time to get a decent night's sleep before she had to work in the morning. She had tried the last few days, but hadn't thought of much to do other than bringing her some flowers the first time she came to pick her up. The other times had been rather anticlimactic at best. This time, she vowed it would go differently.

To kill time and get advice while she waited inside her car parked in the school parking lot, Makoto was on her cell phone with the self- proclaimed love doctor. "It's just frustrating is all, Minako. I've got all the time in the world at the moment, and her job is keeping her busy most of the time. Now I know how Luna and Artemus must feel when you and Usagi are out."

Minako laughed, then said, "Oh, I don't think Luna minds being alone so much with Usagi as a roommate, but Artemus, on the other hand, keeps suggesting we should get a goldfish to keep him company."

The thought of what the white Mau would do to a goldfish if left in the same room unattended made Makoto smile. "Somehow, I think companionship isn't his goal."

Minako's bubbly voice said over the phone, "See? Now you, on the other hand, are feeling completely different from them, my friend! You are feeling longing, desire, passion, and . . . yes? What's this? Could it be? Why yes, I think it is! A small touch of lust!"

Drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, she replied, "Focus, Minako, focus. I was asking you for advice for a cheap date that could end at a reasonable hour and still be romantic."

The romance adviser grumbled, "Cheap is bad, Mako-chan. Nothing screams 'you aren't worth it' more than cheap. You gotta throw some money around to impress a girl. Maybe you should go back to that restaurant you two had your first date at?"

"Oh, I don't think so, Minako-chan. You should have seen Mamoru's face when I showed him the bill for that. That place is out of my price range, I think. I'm just wanting something simple. Besides, I don't need to impress Ami at the moment, just help her relax a bit." She glanced in her rearview mirror as she became lost in thought. She had a perfect view of the exit her girlfriend would use. So far, no Ami. Where was she, anyway?

There was a loud, repeating, cracking sound on the other side of the phone for several seconds. It took Makoto a moment to realize Minako was banging her phone against something. Once Minako was sure she had Makoto's attention, she said, "Why don't you just go to a movie, pick up some fast food, and come home? That's so cheap and overly simplistic that it's almost barbaric. Not too romantic, but hey, when you're cheap and unfeeling, who needs romance?"

Makoto was just about to politely thank her friend for the vote of confidence, when an idea came to her. Perhaps she could turn that suggestion into something truly romantic after all. "Yeah, Minako, you just might be on to something."

The voice on the other end asked, with just a hint of sarcasm, "Don't suppose you could pick up some chicken nuggets for me, could you? By the time I get home from this hard afternoon of shopping and fun, I'm going to be starving. Sweet and sour sauce would be good too."

Makoto had come up with a truly witty remark this time for Minako, but a loud tapping sound startled her and caused her to drop her phone. She looked over and saw Ami waving at her from the passenger side window. She picked up her phone and unlocked the door in one swift motion, then said "Gotta go, she's here." Then she turned off the phone and tossed it in the back seat. However, Minako barely heard those words, since in Makoto's hurry to open the door, she hadn't noticed she had been holding the phone upside down.

Ami buckled her seat belt and set her bag in the back seat. "Sorry I'm late. I had to help Hotaru with a question she had about her homework."

Makoto made a small sound indicating she understood as she put the car in drive. After a few minutes, Ami said shyly, "Thank you for the ride home. I promise I wont take advantage of you for long. I plan to start car shopping tomorrow. Haruka is going to come with me since she is convinced none of the rest of us knows how to choose a proper car."

Makoto made another quiet sound. As Ami relaxed, she couldn't help but be pleased with how responsible of a driver her girlfriend was, paying attention to the road so much and all. Not wanting to distract Makoto, Ami leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, just enjoying being with Makoto. She didn't even need to say anything to do that.

After a while Makoto said, "Hey Ami, can you do me a favor?"

"Yes?"

"Keep your eyes closed."

Naturally, the first thing Ami did was open her eyes. Looking out the window as they came to a stoplight, Ami said, "This isn't the way home, Makoto."

As she turned round a corner, the driver pleaded, "Oh come on, Ami-chan, humor me. This'll be worth it. I'll have you home at a reasonable time, I promise."

Ami fidgeted in her seat for a moment. "Well, it's just I have some papers I need to grade and -- "

Makoto knew her girlfriend didn't like having her usual routine interrupted, but she really did feel this was worth it. She put a hand over Ami's mouth playfully and said, "Be honest. Lately, you get home and what's the first thing you usually do?"

Her usual routine was to get home, and start chatting with Makoto either on the phone or online while she looked over her already refined plans for classes three weeks in advance. Rather than admit that out loud, Ami pushed Makoto's hand away, sat back and closed her eyes again. After a few more minutes, she asked, "Can you give me a hint as to where we are going?"

Makoto smiled as she put the car in park and said, "I don't need to. We're already there."

Ami opened her eyes and smiled. She hadn't been here in years. "You know, getting dressed up, going out to eat at a fancy restaurant, and dancing is all well and good, but this is quite possibly more romantic than even that."

Makoto nodded, truly pleased with herself. "So, guess that means you remember what happened here almost 15 years ago?"

Ami unbuckled her seatbelt and gave Makoto a hug. "How could I forget? This is where we met, after all."

"Yeah." Makoto looked at the building through her windshield and sighed. "It's too bad they tore down the Crown Arcade ten years ago."

Ami opened her car door and said, "It's ok, Mako-chan. It's the thought that counts. Besides, we can get something quick to eat at a McDonald's and still have time to maybe catch an early movie or something."

Makoto smiled at how easily she had managed to get Ami to stop thinking about work and have some fun for once. It had to be some kind of sign. Perhaps, just this once, everything would go according to plan.

* * *

So far, everything was going according to plan. 

The first thing she did was throw Artemus in Minako's closet and closed the door so the cat wouldn't get on to who she was. He fussed from time to time, but after Mina closed the door to Minako's room, no one could hear his muffled protests. Then it was on to setting things up.

The blonde Sekkou paced around the living room nervously as she made last-minute adjustments to the lighting and furniture. Everything had to be absolutely perfect. After all, this might be her only chance to get this right, should anything go wrong. One thing she hated about the apartment was the size of the living room. It was the biggest room in Ami and Minako's apartment, thus making it the most suitable for her purposes. However, it wasn't nearly big enough to suit her, and it was also the most cluttered. Minako's stuffed animals she kept around from her childhood seemed to take up half the room, and who knew Ami had so much Star Trek junk? Luckily, she found Minako's room to be the perfect dumping ground for all the unnecessary garbage. She needed room for candles anyway.

Then, there was the furniture. A third hand blue couch, an ugly and badly built build-it-yourself pressboard TV stand, and three book shelves. She moved the book shelves to Minako's room and threw a white sheet over the couch to make it a little less visible. However, there wasn't much she could do to hide the hideous TV stand, so she put some more candles on top of it and decided to hope for the best.

Then, she had to decide on something to wear. It had been a long time since Mina had been able to dress up, since her duties as a Sekkou hadn't allowed for such luxuries. She had wanted to go shopping, but because she hadn't been able to procure one of Minako's credit cards or some form of valid I.D. she had to make do with what her double had in her closet. After selecting a tight-fitting red evening dress, and adjusting her trade-mark red bow in her hair, she was all set.

She had everything. Except that Rei was late!

Didn't that woman know that time is bread and butter? If she didn't show up soon, and Minako or Ami got home early, this show would be as pointless as watching paint dry in the grass!

Glancing at the clock, she made a split-second decision. If that woman didn't show up in 10 minutes, she would have to call the whole thing off and try something different. It was a shame, really. She had managed to twist corn into bronze, but it was possible no one would ever see it. Well, except for Ami and Minako, but what did those two matter to her? This was a matter of love!

Just as importantly to her, this was a matter or revenge! Surely this would show every one of the Sekkou she could get anything she wanted, take anything she wanted. Even love and affection from sworn enemies. If that didn't assure her leadership over them, nothing would. However, it would all be a waste of time if Rei never showed up!

She was just about to abandon all hope four minutes later, when she heard a knock on the door. Mina walked over to the door and stood there another moment, until a somewhat impatient and louder knock sounded. That had to be her.

She was tempted to wait for Rei to knock one more time to get back at her for making her wait, but Rei delivered a warning should 'Minako' try that. "Open this door right here, right now, or I will never speak to you again."

The door flew open so quickly Rei jumped back a step. Without so much as a hello from her date, she latched onto Rei's arm and yanked her bodily into the room. As soon as Rei was clear of the door, 'Minako' slammed it behind her and stood between her and the door as if she were worried Rei would flee.

Finally, Mina opened her mouth to greet her date. Before she could speak, though, she received a sharp slap to the face. Stepping back and rubbing her cheek, she glared at Rei and growled, "What in the hell was that for?"

"That," Rei said, "was for playing games with me! How dare you tell me 'no' to my face, and then call me up 40 minutes later and beg me for a date! Consider that your first strike. Do not play games with me, and do not test me. Because I promise you, you will lose! By the way, in case you weren't paying attention, that was my arm! That hurt! It's n -- !"

Mina had planned this down to the last T. If she was going to pull this off, she needed Rei's cooperation. Thus, she felt a change in conversation was in order. To shut Rei up, she covered the other woman's mouth with hers. For a moment, Rei tried to push her off, but Mina was faster and wrapped her arms around the other woman until she felt Rei relax and return the embrace.

Mina made a mental note in her to do list. It wasn't supposed to be in this order, but so long as she got all her goals in, what did order matter?

First kiss: _Check_.

So far, so good.

* * *

So far, everything was going good. 

The line at the theater was unusually long, and Makoto was about to suggest that they do something different, but the look on Ami's face told her that her companion was looking forward this. So instead, she casually held Ami's hand in hers since she felt that it was best and somehow more romantic to humor her.

While she listened to the dull rumble of distant traffic, Makoto felt her lips form into a small smile as a thought came to her. Ami was her senior by nearly 3 months. That was reason enough for Makoto, since that officially made Ami her new senpai. So as far as Makoto was concerned, far be it from her to argue with her new senpai!

Makoto had been telling Ami about some of the things that the contractors would be doing to her restaurant, and Ami, for her part, politely listened, nodding her head occasionally. After a while, Makoto ran out of things to say, so she once again stood quietly in the midst of the murmuring crowd as she waited for either Ami to start talking, or the tickets to go on sale. Whichever came first.

Something Makoto found cute about Ami was that she kept looking down at their hands and blushing a slight shade of pink, then would casually look up to see if anyone was watching. She hadn't thought about the fact that Ami might not be used to such a small display of public affection. She thought Ami might be uncomfortable at first, but when she didn't pull her hand away, Makoto felt that meant it felt appropriate to her.

Ami spoke so softly that for a moment, Makoto wasn't sure she had said anything. "Do you realize that this is the kind of thing I always dreamed a romance to be like?"

Makoto tilted her head and regarded Ami with an amused smile. "How so?"

Blushing a bit more, Ami admitted, "It's the commonality of it all. Fast food and pretending to argue over who should pay the bill, waiting in line at the theater to see a movie you probably won't like, followed by a ride home." Ami let out a happy sigh and said, "It's just so normal. Romantic dates are all good, but this is what I always dreamed a relationship would be. If I had to sum it up in one word, I'd describe it as comfortable. It's so romantic because it just feels so . . . natural."

Makoto felt her smile grow just a bit more. It pleased her to no end to know she was fulfilling one of Ami's dreams. She was just about to say a truly smashing romantic comment to those words, when Ami's relaxed voice chimed in with one last comment.

"Even if it is cheap."

Makoto tried to hide her own embarrassed blush by looking at her watch as the line started to move. "You know, tickets are going to go on sale any moment now, and by the way, I'm buying."

* * *

Rei's date was fairly romantic so far, even considering how cheap Minako was. 

Minako had put in a movie that neither of them paid attention to. It was the first time in a long while that Rei had spent an entire movie talking to someone. Then, the two of them had spent the time before dinner arrived making yet more small talk. Mostly just random conversations about what they expected from the relationship, things they'd like to do, and when to tell their friends. Dinner at home was a romantic concept for a first date, but since Minako was a terrible cook, it had consisted of cheap wine tucked away in the cabinet and delivery pizza. Rei supposed it was fortunate it wasn't frozen dinners.

However, now that dinner was done, the two had become quiet. Minako had snuggled up next to Rei, almost as if waiting for something. However, it had been so long since Rei had been on any kind of a date, that she couldn't remember what that something was.

Her date sat quietly next to her, buffing her finger nails on the edge of her skirt. When she started working on her other hand, 'Minako' asked nonchalantly, "So, Rei, tell me. Have you ever been with a woman before?"

"Well, no, but I. . ." Rei stopped and looked at Minako, suddenly feeling a little startled as the pieces fell into place, and said, "Don't you think it's a bit soon to be thinking like that, Minako? I-I-I mean, we don't want to rush things, right?" Then under her breath she asked cautiously, "Are you sure you're not a little drunk?"

Mina giggled at Rei's last comment and was just about to start pouting for effect, when the sound of a key unlocking the front door got her attention. Fearing it was Minako, Mina ignored the strange look Rei was giving her and ran to the door, slamming it as hard as she could in the person's face just as it started to open. There was a muffled yelp of surprise from the intruder on the other side.

Rei calmly got up and walked to Mina and crossed her arms as she said, "So . . . you didn't tell Ami about this, did you." It wasn't a question.

As the person on the other side tried to open the door again, Minako pushed with all her weight, trying to keep it closed. Then she locked the door again and said sweetly, "Well . . . I just don't want any interruptions is all . . and . . ." She stopped talking to quickly lock the door again as the person tried to unlock it. "and . . . well, I just don't want them to know this soon, is all. You understand right?"

Rei rolled her eyes. "It's just Ami. I'm surprised she wasn't home already. Geez, Minako, if you didn't want her to know, why in the world did you decide to do this here?" Rei put a hand over her eyes for a moment in both anger and embarrassment as Minako and the person on the other side continued their contest of who could lock or unlock the door quicker.

Makoto's muffled voice asked from the other side of the door, "Are you sure you're using the right key?" Ami's comment was nothing more than a quiet muffled sound, but it was enough to reassure Mina that wherever Minako was, she wasn't here.

She was just about to back away, when another voice said, "Let me try mine." Mina gritted her teeth in anger. It was the last voice in the whole of existence that she wanted to hear. Ami and Makoto's greetings were indistinct, but Rei had clearly heard the other person. This time Minako locked both the door knob lock and the deadbolt.

It was clear from the expression on her face that Rei had heard something unusual. She stepped back and looked into the woman's eyes as if searching for something. Surely it was her imagination. Surely it was just paranoia. Feeling it best to be sure, Rei called out, "Minako?"

The bubbly blonde's voice called back form the other side of the door, "Rei? Is that you?" Then, quieter, to Ami and Makoto, she asked, "How did she get in there? Did you give her a key?" There was a pause as Ami answered, then Minako said, "Rei, I know you're upset about earlier . . . but I really think now isn't the best time to discuss this . . ."

Rage began to boil through her blood at the game she had just played into perfectly. Narrowing her eyes at the woman in front of her, Rei growled, "You're not Minako, are you." The blonde looked at Rei with a look that said her mouth wouldn't melt butter and was just about to say something, but Rei wasn't going to have any of it. "We have a serious problem here!"

"Yeah, I know," both Mina and Minako said at the same time.

As Minako mumbled an explanation to Ami and Makoto on her side of the door, Rei looked deep into Mina's eyes where she could tell the woman was furious about being interrupted, and Rei was sure the Sekkou could tell just how mad she was about having her heart used as someone else's plaything. Somewhere at the back of her mind she couldn't help but wonder what her enemy had been playing at, but she would think about that later. Controlling her anger, Rei spoke as slowly and calmly as she could. "Open the door."

In response, Mina's transformation wand appeared in her hands. "Well, I guess this concludes our date. Before we move on to the foreplay, I do have one question I'd like answered."

Rei's wand appeared in her hand, but instead of transforming, she waited quietly for her opponent to speak.

"Up until you knew who I was," Mina said bitterly, "Weren't you enjoying yourself?"

* * *

Meanwhile, out in the hallway, Minako looked at the door as it once again locked itself. This time she pounded on the door and yelled, "Come on, Rei! Stop playing with us! This isn't funny anymore!" There was no answer. 

Ami looked up at Makoto with a worried expression on her face. "Something is wrong. Rei can be stubborn, but this just isn't like her."

Makoto smiled and asked playfully, "What? You want me to break down the door? Wow, who knew the two of you were so destru . . . oh." Green eyes looked back and forth at the two for a moment in amusement, until she saw Minako nodding her head enthusiastically. "Don't you think that's a bit extreme?"

Ami said quietly, "Perhaps knocking down the door is a bit unorthodox. I have an idea we should try before that. Minako, you put your key in the deadbolt, I'll put mine in the doorknob, then I shall count to three. When I get to three, the two of us will unlock the door while Makoto pushes. If we synchronize it perfectly, Rei won't be able to respond quickly enough to lock the door again before we open it."

The three got into position, and then Ami whispered, "Ready?" Makoto and Minako nodded with determined looks on their faces. "Ok, on three. One . . . two . . ."

The brunette flapped her hand in front of Ami's face and said frantically, "Wait wait wait! Ami-chan, do you mean, one-two-three then push, or, one-two, then push at the same time you say three?"

Her blonde friend nodded her head and said, "Yeah yeah, that's a good question, Mako-chan. I was thinking one two three, then we go for it, but now that you mention it, Ami could have meant the other way."

Rubbing her forehead as if she were getting a headache from her friends actually complicating such a simple plan, the strategist replied,"Well

. . . I suppose it should be coordinated better." She sighed, then said, "Let's go with one two, then execute on three." Then she got back into position and said, "Ok . . . ready? One . . . two . . ."

Rei watched as the door flew open and her friends tumbled in, flailing their arms and yelling as they lost their balance and crashed to the floor, landing on top of each other in protest. Somehow, the welcome mat wound up on top of the three of them.

If the situation weren't so serious, Rei would have laughed. However, Dark Sailor Venus stood behind her with one arm around Rei's waist almost possessively, and the other holding a large knife from the kitchen pressed firmly against her neck, causing Rei's nearly perfect posture to look just a bit straighter.

The Sekkou looked at the three would be rescuers and hissed angrily, "Get back! Back! Everyone does what I say, and no one gets hurt. Understand?" As if her point needed emphasis, she pressed the knife ever so gently into Rei, just barely cutting skin, letting just a small amount of blood run down her neck.

It was the first time in a long time any of them could recall seeing Rei look downright scared. She didn't even protest. Aside for shaking ever so slightly, Rei didn't even move. As her friends started pulling themselves to their feet, Rei spoke in a shaky voice, "Do as she says." Seeing the worried expressions on their faces, Rei said, trying to sound brave, "Don't worry. I'll be fine."

Mina was most worried about Makoto making some heroic attempt at a rescue since she was sure the tall woman could easily overpower her, but was both relieved and amused when Makoto stepped back out into the hallway with the others. "That's right, kiddies, nice and slow. Keep your distance. You know the drill." Then Mina brought her hand not holding the knife up so that it was resting on Rei's shoulder, gently nudging her out into the hallway as well. Dark Venus walked backwards down the hall toward the elevator, guiding her captive with her. In a voice so calm it almost sounded out of place, Mina said, "Now, the two of us are going to have a little chat." Then, to Rei, she demanded, "You get to work the elevator, sweetie. I'd do it, but as you can see, I have my hands full."

Makoto looked for all the world like an attack dog on a leash, just waiting for the collar to snap. Ami stood beside her frantically trying to make some sort of rescue plan, while the expression on her face showed one of deep concern. She had no wish for any of her friends to go through what she had at the hands of their enemies. It was Minako who finally spoke. "You told us to keep our distance, but you said nothing about following you."

Her double gave her a wicked smile and a wink as the soft chime of the elevator rang out then replied, "Oh, you are more than welcome to try." Then the doors opened, and she forced her hostage inside.

Taking that as the signal to begin the chase, Makoto, Ami, and Minako ran for the elevator as fast as they could. At the last instant, Rei brought a hand up as if trying to reach for her friends just as the door closed.

Makoto pounded on the door with her fist once in an effort to let off some steam. "Damn it! I'm sick of always having to chase after them!"

Minako stared at the stainless steel doors as if they would answer as she asked to no one in particular, "How could she have been so stupid to fall for a pathetic trap like that?"

Ami looked up and watched the floor number change, then started running for the stairs, yelling, "Their going for the roof!"

* * *

At the moment, Rei couldn't help but wonder how she had been stupid enough to fall for this. 

The soft ding signaled the elevator had reached its destination. Without a word, Mina cautiously lead her captive out with her. They were now standing in the rec room of the apartment building. For some reason, being held hostage at knifepoint surrounded by foosball and pool tables was a surreal feeling for Rei. She didn't have time to dwell on that as Mina pushed her toward the exit leading out to the roof. This time without being prompted, Rei opened the door and allowed herself to be forced outside.

They walked out to the open roof underneath a star filled sky, and as they approached the center of the open area, Mina said, "Looks like we are going to make a clean getaway. This is easier than I thought."

A somewhat surprised look crossed Dark Sailor Venus's face as she heard three voices yell out at the same time, "Stop!"

Sailor Venus said, "How dare you capture a young shrine maiden and . . . and . . . you know, Usagi is much better at giving the speeches."

Sailor Jupiter nodded. "That's all right Venus, but it doesn't matter anyway."

Sailor Mercury smiled then added, "Because in the name of the moon,"

All three of them yelled out enthusiastically, "We'll punish you!"

Rei's face scrunched up. "You know, when you actually stop to listen to that, the whole speech thing sounds a little lame, doesn't it?"

Dark Venus rolled her eyes and pressed the knife back against Rei's neck again, not even bothering to turn around. "Don't the three of you ever give up? You're not going to win anyway." With that, she threw the knife at Makoto with far more of an expert aim than any of them would have thought possible. As the Senshi of Thunder dodged the knife, Mina simply tightened both arms around Rei and lifted them both into the sky shooting away from the building as fast as she could carry the two of them. Rei's surprised screaming rang out, but quickly faded as the distance increased.

Just like that, they were gone.

Minako looked at Ami, waiting for an explanation while Makoto bent down and pulled the knife where it had gotten lodged in to the ground.

The bluenette blushed and answered her leader's unasked question. "Well . . . I thought Rei weighed more than you, and they can't carry more than an object of equal mass, so . . ."

Minako turned red this time and said, "So . . . guess this means I weigh more than Rei."

Deep down, Makoto knew this was their way of not panicking over a situation none of them could change, but as she looked at the knife in her hands she just couldn't keep her temper down any more. For the second time that night, Makoto swore and tossed the knife in the direction Dark Venus had gone with her hostage.

Minako looked at Makoto and, half in an attempt to get her to calm down, and half being honest, said, "That was a birthday present from my mother." The three quietly looked out in the direction Mina and Rei had gone. Minako sighed and said, "What do we do now?"

* * *

Dark Venus touched down on another roof top far from the building she had just made her escape from. When they touched down, Mina let go of Rei, letting the raven haired woman stumble forward as she fell down, exhausted from using so much energy in her flight. After a few moments, her panting turned to giggling and a fit of laughter. Once she calmed down, she said, "Man, that was fun! Did you see the looks on their faces when I threw that knife at them? They totally bought it!" 

Rei turned around and narrowed her eyes at the crazed blonde as she put her hand over the cut on her neck. "They're not the only ones who bought it. That _hurt,_ you idiot! When I told you I would help you escape, I didn't expect you to try to stab me!" Then as her temper cooled, Rei said to herself, "So . . . what do we do now?"

Mina got to her feet and embraced Rei, saying, "Aw, did I hurt you? Let me see." Then she pulled Rei's hand away gently and started kissing Rei's neck.

Rei tilted her head for a moment and bit her lower lip. Angry as she was at the woman, she had to admit Mina was good at tempting her. Suddenly, though, Rei remembered her original deal with the Sekkou and pushed her away. "No, we discussed this already back in that elevator. No matter what we feel for each other, it's not right to get involved until the Senshi and Sekkou aren't fighting, and we do need time to truly get over Minako and Ray."

Mina put her hands behind her back and bobbed up and down on her tippy toes with a huge smile plastered to her face. "Oh come on now, don't be like that. Just one goodbye kiss is all I ask."

Rei shook her head sadly. It was clear the attractive blonde wasn't taking her seriously. "I mean it. Unless you are going to stay and try to help us defeat the Sekkou, we can't do this. It's wrong no matter how you look at it."

This time Dark Venus walked to the edge of the building and looked out over the city in quiet contemplation. After a moment, she said, "I can't do that. I'm not going to abandon my friends." She felt Rei walk up behind her and somehow knew the woman was looking over her shoulder at the city with her. After a few minutes, she said, "You know . . . it would help us greatly if you just came with me and joined us."

She felt Rei's arms wrap around her gently as they stood in silence. Taking that to mean the Miko was actually considering her offer, Mina turned around in her arms to look into into her eyes and said, "Come with me, Rei."

Rei still had no idea what the Sekkou were truly up to. Perhaps if she did, she might have said yes. However, given the circumstances, her answer was predictable. Even still, Mina felt like someone had just stabbed her in the heart when Rei's eyes started to water and she said, almost pleading with the woman, "Stay."

"Well I . . .I . . ." Mina looked into Rei's eyes and for an instant, Rei thought the other was going to say yes. After several tense moments though, Mina gritted her teeth as her eyes suddenly turned cold and angry a second before she violently pushed Rei away. Stepping over the edge of the building and hovering so that her face was just a few feet higher than Rei's, in an attempt at making herself look intimidating, she said, "I could force you to come with me, you know."

Despite the tears starting to trace their way down Rei's cheeks, she looked up at the Scout. Her voice didn't hide the fact that she was angry, but it still held hope as she said, "But you won't."

Dark Venus glared down at Rei for a few moments, then finally, she reached up and touched her star pendant on her choker, activating a portal behind her. "I'll show you no quarter the next time we meet." With that, she spun around in the air to face her portal and left without another word.

As the portal disappeared behind her enemy, Rei walked to the ledge again and looked out over the city. She took a long, slow breath as she got a hold of her emotions again and said, "Then that is the way it shall be."

She knew in her heart she didn't mean it.

* * *

In her heart, she knew this was the moment she had been waiting for. Even still, Trista felt it best to be sure. "My Queen, we have a serious breach of security on our hands." 

Beryl looked at the two women who stood before her. She had known they had been there for quite some time, but it wasn't like Trista to speak without being spoken to first. Whatever it was she wanted to discuss with her, Beryl was now certain it was important. Looking away from her crystal ball, she said almost absentmindedly, "Continue."

Trista bowed. "Yes, madam. Earlier today, Mina Aino attacked Amy Anderson, stole one of the activation pendants, and went on an unauthorized mission, of which we do not know the details, to the Senshi's dimension. She returned approximately one earth hour ago." The slightest smile crept to her lips as she asked, "Shall we detain her and bring her to you for questioning?"

Beryl merely gazed back into her crystal ball as if her servant had said nothing.

Hotaru bowed and said, "We also learned that several hours before this transpired, Dark Venus was spurned in her romantic overtures to Ray Hino. It is our belief that Mina was making an attempt to fraternize with the enemy."

Without even looking up, Beryl responded "Yes, I know."

Trista and Hotaru traded glances at each other in contained surprise. This time without bowing, Trista stated, "Then it may also interest you to know that -- "

Beryl cut Dark Saturn's words off by raising a hand. She looked up at the two of them and said in barely contained anger, "As queen, it is my duty to know what transpires in my kingdom. I am aware of the plan the guardian Sekkou have of trying to overthrow me, and I am pleased to hear that your two apprentices hang on your every word." Beryl gave her two subordinates a smile and stated, "It is doomed to failure. There are too many lies, yet not enough secrets amongst the Sekkou."

This time Dark Saturn didn't bother to hide her irritation. "If you are aware, why do you not act on it?"

"You forget, I have done this before. Their failure serves as the final seal to their fate, and it stands to eliminate the weakest links amongst the Sekkou. Once they fail in trying to kill me, they will be too demoralized to try again. In the process, they will eliminate most or all of the Senshi eventually, allowing me another universe to control as I see fit." Still looking into her crystal ball, Beryl whispered, "So much power. Yes, they will fail. All of them will. They always do."

Spreading her arms out, almost in defeat, Dark Pluto said in disbelief, "Then you bid us to do _nothing_?"

Beryl finally moved away from her crystal ball and stood in front of her two loyal servants. "I am also aware that the two of you are completely loyal to me and owe me your very lives for what I have done for you. Your lust for power serves me well, and your performance thus far allows you certain rewards and privileges. What is it you so seek?"

Trista put up a hand to signal Hotaru to let her do the talking. "We wish to be given the honor of punishing Mina on your behalf for her treasonous acts against the throne, after which, we would be honored to be allowed to assume leadership of the Sekkou. If you wish, we won't even interfere in their plans to overthrow you until the bitter end. At which time, we will loyally aid you in their defeat."

Beryl clapped her hands once, the sound echoing through the cavernous room like thunder. Her voice seemed eerily quiet as she sealed the deal. "Done."

Letting her joy at the news show, Hotaru said eagerly, "We shall go at once and prepare a plan to carry out your bidding my lady."

As a final reminder to them as to who was in charge, she narrowed her eyes, and gave them a dismissive wave. "Then you are already late."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Special thanks to Trusuprise for beta reading this chapter for content, and as usual to my other beta reader for spelling corrections.**

**According to Wikipedia, the actual arcade that the Crown Arcade is based off of was torn down and replaced by a Mcdonalds.**


	20. Chapter 20 Family Matters

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 20: A Matter of Family**

The sound of muted traffic from below nearly drowned out Rei's voice as she spoke through the tiny speaker of Makoto's communicator. "It's like I told you. I escaped by biting her arm in mid-flight. She dropped me, and I wound up landing in the rooftop pool of a nearby apartment complex. I guess I just wasn't worth coming back for."

Ami moved Makoto's arm once again so that she could see Rei as she poked holes in her revised version of how she escaped. "That does not make sense, Rei. At the height the two of you were, you would have hit the bottom of the average rooftop pool and died, or at the very least been badly injured." Then she squinted a bit as she studied Rei's image on the small screen and added, "Plus, your hair is dry."

The small image of Rei on the screen shrugged. "Maybe I'm just lucky?"

Minako leaned over Ami's shoulder and said, "Don't lie to us about this, Rei. You were stupid enough to fall for her imitating me because she was able to use your emotions against you. We need to talk about--"

Minako was interrupted by Rei making a "tsk" sound, and then a blank screen replaced Rei's image.

Minako blinked in confusion before stating the obvious out loud. "She hung up."

Makoto looked at Minako and said, sounding somewhat amused, "Perhaps it was the bit where you called her stupid?"

Ami looked disappointed as she shook her head in an unsuccessful attempt to clear an unpleasant thought. After a moment, she said, "She's hiding something."

The blonde put a hand over her eyes as she tried to control her temper. This was made somewhat more difficult by the fact that the person she was angry with wasn't with them at the moment. "I know I hurt her, but lying to her would have been even worse. I was planning on handling this outside the team, just between myself and Rei, but because she was so easily fooled by one of them, it becomes a team problem. I don't know that I buy the 'she let me go' story, either."

Their leader looked at the stars as she tried to think of a nice way to word the disappointing thought that she knew would hurt Rei even more if she were here. "She's a liability if she can't be trusted."

Makoto sighed and said, "Look on the bright side. At least she got away. I don't think how matters at the moment. I don't think any of us would have wished . . ." She looked at Ami, suddenly afraid she was about to say something that might upset her. Aside from that moment in the hospital, her girlfriend had yet to say much more about her experience as a captive.

Ami gave the brunette a reassuring smile. "It's okay, and you are right. For the moment, the details can wait for tomorrow. The important thing is she is safe."

Still looking up at the stars, Minako said, "We still need to talk to her about this. She needs to come to terms with the fact that I just don't feel that way about her. Running to the arms of the enemy isn't going to solve that."

Ami looked at her in surprise at how blunt the other woman was being. "Minako? I don't truly think Rei would . . . would she?"

Minako finally looked back at her friends. "It's the only thing that makes sense. Rei didn't just escape. I think she let her go."

Makoto looked at Ami. "You said it yourself, Ami. She's hiding something. I think Minako's right."

Ami walked up to the edge of the building and leaned over the familiar concrete barrier as she looked at the skyline for inspiration on what the best course of action was.

In the back of her mind, she suddenly found it strange that she was now standing in almost the same spot she had been during her conversation with Setsuna only a little more than a month ago. Her life had changed so much since then, and as she thought about it, a small part of her mind wondered how much things would change in the next month.

Setsuna had said not to deny her destiny, but it hadn't felt like she had been even given a choice in that yet. Granted, Makoto was a huge plus, but Ami had been bothered by that comment ever since Setsuna made it. Ami took it to mean that she was going to have to make a decision. But how did one make a decision when one didn't know the question or the choices?

Still lost in her own thoughts, and her voice barely above a whisper, she said, "So what do we do now?"

She felt strong, reassuring arms wrap around her and heard Makoto's voice whisper quietly to her, "You're thinking too hard." Now Makoto turned Ami so she was facing her and said, "We do the only thing we can do. Call it a night and start again tomorrow. Besides, we still have a date to finish."

* * *

Upon her return to the portal generator room, Mina had been greeted by an unhappy yet strangely quiet Amy. She hadn't gone far from where Mina had left her, just to a nearby work bench where she had been tinkering with a few of the star-shaped pendants the Sekkou used to get back to their home dimension, apparently preparing for an outing that was planned for the next day. 

An outing that was planned entirely without _her. _Amy's lack of argument didn't help either, since Mina wanted desperately for an excuse to use the other for a good workout. If the orders for the new mission hadn't come from Beryl herself, Mina would have tried to see if she could take off Amy's head with her bare hands. She was still tempted to try it, too.

Amy made one final adjustment then carefully pressed the cover to the small pendant shut and handed it to Mina. "There you are. Since you decided to go on your little unauthorized reconnaissance mission, I had to set up a new pendant for you for tomorrow's sortie. These things are only good for so many uses you know. We wouldn't want you to get stuck. Why, where would that leave our team?"

Mina's response was to squeeze the pendant in her hand as hard as she could while glaring at her subordinate, then she left without saying a word.

A small smile formed on the bluenette's face as she watched her commander leave. Once she heard the steel doors slide shut, Amy said quietly, "The poor fool. She doesn't suspect a thing."

"Then you held your end of the bargain?"

She didn't need to look. She had known the other woman had been standing in the shadows for quite some time. "Of course. Your offer is too good to pass up." Turning around to stare into the shadows she stated, "I assume you will keep your end as well?"

Trista walked from her hiding place into the light so she could look in to Amy's eyes. "Of course. Once I am in charge of the Sekkou and the Senshi have been eliminated, I will persuade Beryl to release both you and Lita from her control." The Sekkou of destruction looked in the direction the blonde had left. "Beryl will have no use for you after that. I believe once you finally pledge your obedience to Beryl, you'll find your life will become much easier. Why, you might even get your missing limbs back some day if you keep up your good behavior."

Amy shook her head and waved her hand as if brushing away a thought. "That is just a bonus."

The tall woman turned her attention back to Amy and said, "Then why sell out your friends?"

Amy touched the side of her head just hard enough to make a tapping sound. "You know the answer to that already. Revenge." She said the last word with quite a bit of pleasure tucked into her voice. Then, as if the woman weren't even there, she turned back to her bench, saying quietly, "Now if you'll excuse me, I do have some work to finish here."

With that, Trista bowed politely, then departed in the same direction Mina had gone.

Slumping back in her chair for a moment admiring her handiwork, Amy whispered happily to herself, "Yes, I love a good plan."

* * *

The two had decided to head back over to Makoto's, but on the way down the stairs, Ami had insisted on stopping back at the apartment. When they got there, Makoto started to enter, but her girlfriend held up a hand to stop her. 

"This will only take a moment. Just wait here." Then Ami walked in, leaving Makoto at the door.

"What the hell was that all about?" Makoto whispered to Minako as Ami headed off to her room.

Minako smiled and said, "Maybe it's a surprise? Hey, since I'm not banned from going in my own apartment, how's about I have a look-see and let you know? Maybe I can steel her in the performance."

Makoto turned to Minako with an amused expression. "Sure thing. I don't have a problem with it."

Makoto watched Minako go down the hall and open the door, no doubt trying to 'catch her in the act'. Or, at least that's what she thought Minako meant. She could hear indistinct chatter for a moment, then Minako leaned out the door of Ami's room and franticly motioned for Makoto to enter. When she got to the room, she was surprised by what she saw.

At first she thought that perhaps the Sekkou had been looking for something, because several of the drawers had their contents thrown onto the floor. Ami's worried expression as she opening her closet and started throwing random items out told her other wise. Ami's muffled voice came from inside a box she had ducked her head inside while saying "Where is it? I know I left it on the desk."

She sat up and looked at her two friends, almost as if noticing them for the first time. "I thought I told you to wait?"

Makoto tilted her head to the side and asked, "What are you looking for?"

A rare expression of guilt formed on Ami's face. "Uh . . . nothing. It's not important."

Minako leaned close to her tall friend and said, "You know, I just remembered something I need to check on in the kitchen." With that, she made a tactful escape, closing the door behind her.

Green eyes looked at Ami. When she didn't get a response, Makoto said, "You know, you're a terrible liar. Come on Ami, spill."

Ami winced, then said, "I think I know why she was here. I think she might have been looking for something I sort of . . . stole."

"Why do I think we aren't talking about Rei here?" Makoto unsuccessfully tried to hide her feelings in her expression, but the fact that Ami hadn't told her something important hurt just a bit.

Shuffling her feet, and finding the carpet interesting for a moment, Ami said, "I was going to tell you all about it, but I hadn't had time to take a look at it myself. I wanted to know more about it before I told you all about it. I suppose it doesn't matter anyway, since . . . she found . . . it " Ami's voice trailed off for a moment as her eyes focused on what she had been looking for, but since she was looking down, Makoto didn't know that. She also didn't know she was practically standing on it.

Realizing there was no way for her to retrieve the item without Makoto seeing it Ami decided to fess up. "Look down by your shoes. I . . . must have bumped it off my desk on my way out this morning. Thank goodness you did not step on it."

Feeling totally lost, Makoto looked down and saw what Ami was talking about. Sitting less than an inch from her foot was a familiar titanium star shaped pendant. Remembering what had happened to Ami the last time she had seen one, Makoto took a step back in surprise. "You're kidding me. You actually brought one of those . . . those things back with you?" Anger flashed in her eyes as she looked at her girlfriend, saying, "Don't you remember how dangerous that thing is? Didn't you think it would've been better to let us know so we could all work together to hide it?"

Ami knelt down and picked up the item, then stood up and grabbed Makoto's hand. "Please don't be upset. I thought it might be a good idea while I was there to try to figure out how they get to here and back, so I stole that pendant and put it in my pocket. I didn't expect Dark Moon to give me another one to send my double back, so I wound up with a spare."

Avoiding Makoto's gaze, she added, "I was not going to activate it this time. I just wanted to analyze it and find out how it worked. Maybe see if . . . we could bring the fight to them. I really was going to tell you all, but I wanted to wait until I knew what to tell you."

Ignoring her reservations about the situation for a moment, Makoto asked, "What have you found out so far?" Something lit up in Ami's eyes, causing Makoto to add, "And try to give it to me in simple Japanese."

"Well, they get here by using an event horizon generator to cut through space and time. One of us has to be near a reflective object for it to work. Once one of them is able to get in by stepping out of that object, the rest can then tag along since that's all it takes to get a stable pathway for them to follow."

Makoto nodded, so Ami assumed she understood at least some of what she said. "To get back, they need one of those." She held up the pendant and examined it for a moment before continuing, "We know it can take us to their world already. The question is, can we all go back using only one? If that's possible, we can change the way we are fighting them. The down side is, it won't allow us to get back. We would need someone to stay behind and stay near a mirror, and bring that person's double to the room they use to come to our world. If we all went . . ."

Nodding her head, Makoto said, "We wouldn't be able to get back, and we would be stuck in a world where everyone is out to get us. Sounds just like high school! I'm not even going to pretend to understand the science behind that, though."

A part of her wanted to be angry at Ami, but she just couldn't feel that way. Ami hadn't been trying to deceive them, just give them the right answers. Seeing the nervous expression on her girlfriend's face, Makoto decided it was now time to try to salvage the rest of the evening. They could worry about this later.

Makoto's eyes glowed with mischief for a second as she reached out, grabbing the pendant from Ami, holding it just out of her reach while saying, "So, how does it work anyway?"

Ami's panicked voice called out, "Be careful with that!" She jumped for it, but Makoto playfully moved her hand just a bit to the left.

"Oh come on. I'm showing an interest in your handiwork. Who knew you had a decent criminal mind?"

She made another unsuccessful lunge for the item while pleading, "Makoto, I'm serious. Give it back. What if you accidentally turn it on?"

"Then you'd dive in after me and save me like a knight in shining armor." Makoto twirled around laughing as Ami ran in a circle trying to keep Makoto's face in front of her as if that would help her reclaim her stolen stolen property. "You seem to want this thing pretty badly."

Rather than lunging for the pendant again, she decided to try a new tactic. Ami wrapped her arms around Makoto's neck, and looked up into her eyes. Then she whispered, "I can think of something else I want."

That surprised Makoto. Her eyes went wide at Ami's sudden aggressiveness, and her guard dropped for just an instant. It was all the time Ami needed to yank the pendant away from her and back away to her desk, where she put it in a drawer and closed it.

Then she turned an irritated gaze toward Makoto, saying, "That wasn't nice, Makoto."

Makoto stepped forward and pulled her close to her. "Neither is how you got that thing back. Oh, and by the way, you're not giving me much incentive to be nice. Did ya know you're cute when you're angry?"

Ami's cheeks turning pink told her she didn't know that. As if to change the subject, Ami said, "So . . . what do you think we should do with it?"

Makoto gently guided Ami so she was sitting on her bed and said, "I think we should forget about it for now and just enjoy the rest of our evening."

Ami's expression looked a little surprised by the suggestion. "Is it truly as simple as that?"

A pleased smile from Makoto was her only answer.

At first Ami felt a little strange knowing Minako was somewhere else in the apartment, but then she thought to herself, 'Why not? We are both adults . . . she's my girlfriend . . . she's in my room and the door's closed. If that doesn't scream go away nothing will.' It was, after all a matter of simple logic to Ami. Surely Minako, being the goddess of love and all, would understand to give them some privacy.

Ami looked over her glasses at Makoto for a moment as if measuring up an opponent before taking them off and tossing them on her night stand. Then without warning, she put her hands on Makoto's shoulders and slowly pushed Makoto back on the bed. "You just want to see if I can make you curl your toes again, don't you?" Before Makoto could answer, Ami started nipping Makoto's neck.

In a voice that sounded as if she were getting lost in the moment, Makoto whispered, "Already doing that." Holding Ami close to her, she rolled so that Ami was now beneath her. Kissing Ami almost possessively, she started to let her hands wander over her companion's body.

Blue eyes fluttered open to look up into green ones, as Ami said, "Makoto, I . . ." Her voice faded away to nothing as her words died in her throat.

That was the moment Ami realized they weren't alone. At the edge of her peripheral vision, she saw a familiar face accompanied by blue hair watching them in silent shock from the doorway to her room. As soon as the intruder noticed someone paying attention to her, she turned around and walked calmly back down the hallway.

Makoto saw the look of horror on her girlfriend's face and was about to ask what was wrong and if it was something she did, when Ami pushed her off the bed so hard and so quickly that Makoto flew off, landing on the floor with an undignified thud. Despite being worried about what it was that had set Ami off and had her running out of the room, (rather unexpectedly in Makoto's mind) a part of her was impressed. She had no idea Ami was that strong.

The initial outburst over, Minako walked in and said, "Makoto, I think you'd better go after her." Then, Minako did a very un-Minako thing to do. She quietly went back in her room and closed the door, wanting nothing more than to mind her own business, and not wanting anything to do with whatever had caused Ami to leave her in a pile on the floor like a discarded candy wrapper.

Jumping to her feet, Makoto rushed out the bedroom and stopped halfway down the hall when she saw that Ami hadn't gone far, and was with someone. As realization dawned upon her, Makoto understood just how awkward the rest of the evening was going to be.

There was no cause to run anymore, unless she wanted to grab Ami and run screaming from the building. Even then, she doubted they would ever be able to run from this problem. Makoto walked to the living room and sat next to Ami, giving her support. Then, she squeezed her eyes closed and turned her head away from both of them as she listened to the conversation in embarrassment.

Her face almost a dark red color from blushing so much, Ami looked at the intruder and said quietly as she tried to hide her embarrassment, "Mother, I would appreciate it if you would tell me what you are thinking, because I think we need to talk."

For her part, Hana Mizuno sat with her back arched, covering her face with her hands, saying nothing, while her ears continued to turn ever impressive darker and darker shades of red. She had gotten off early tonight from work and had decided to stop by her daughter's apartment to see how she was doing. She hadn't expected to find the living room totally re-arranged for a romantic evening and to walk in on her daughter sharing an intimate moment with a certain someone.

Makoto spoke up with a slight edge of anger to her voice. "Don't be angry with her, Mizuno-Sensei. If you want to be angry at someone, be angry at me. I'm the one who --"

Ami's mother cut Makoto off with a sound that could have easily been a laugh or a sob, then said, "I'm not angry."

"Mother, please listen to me. I was going to tell you eventually, I just--"

Letting her hands fall from her face, Hana Mizuno looked up at the ceiling and said, "Which part? That you are a lesbian, or that you were sleeping with one of your childhood friends?"

When she looked at Ami and saw the hurt in her daughter's eyes, she felt that her last comment hadn't entirely been fair. Besides, she had guessed a long time ago that Ami was gay. Homosexuality didn't bother her, but to have it confirmed by walking in on her daughter with another woman in a rather compromising situation was simply . . . shocking. More than that, though, Hana was simply feeling hurt by the fact that Ami didn't trust her enough to actually tell her what was going on in her life.

A small voice in the back of her head kept taunting her with the thought that perhaps all those overtime hours at work over the years had put more distance between them than she had fully understood.

Well, that, and Dr. Mizuno was also more than a bit embarrassed herself. After all, she had been the one to engrave into Ami that one must knock before entering another person's room.

Hana's deep crimson blush slowly faded as her face turned pale. She truly did try to smile, but all she could manage was to press her lips into a thin, white line before she spoke. "I am all right with it Ami, truly I am. I just need a few minutes. Walking in on your little girl while she is making love to . . . _anyone, _is just a bit of a shock for any parent to witness."

She paused and let a small gasp leave her lips. Then Hana started to move her hands a bit and her eyes opened just a touch wider in shock from the vivid memory of what she just witnessed whenever she tried unsuccessfully to complete her thoughts out loud. "It's just . . . I know you are not a child anymore but . . . I know you are an adult now and . . . It's just . . . your lips were . . . your hands were on her . . . and her hands were on your . . ."

Yes, Hana Mizuno had just received the shock of her life, but at least she wasn't angry. Considering that to be as good a way to look at it as possible at the moment, Makoto leaned over Ami and said, "Uh . . Dr. Mizuno?"

Hana looked up with only slightly less of a dazed expression on her face. "Yes?"

Despite how stupid and redundant the statement sounded in her head, Makoto felt it was the best thing to do, the right thing to do. "Uh . . ." With a sheepish grin, Makoto got up and stood before Ami's mother and bowed politely. "Hana Mizuno, I wish to ask for your blessing to continue my relationship with your daughter." She stood back up and said, "I know I should have asked you before, but, uh . . . well . . . we have been busy, you see."

She winced a bit at her own words. That hadn't been how she meant the comment to come out. She was trying to say that they as Senshi had been busy, so they hadn't had much time to talk to her about it. She also was trying to keep the fact that Hana knew the identities of the Senshi a secret from Ami. Instead it sounded to her own ears like her and Ami were too busy because they had been . . .

Both Ami and her mother's faces turned a slight shade of pink at Makoto's words, but as the realization of what Makoto was trying to say to her set in, Hana's face finally turned a more natural color. Instead of talking, she stood up and gave Makoto a hug.

Since Ami's father wasn't around, Hana had long ago learned to play both the role of father and mother for her daughter. Just quietly enough for Makoto to hear, she whispered, "Remember your promise? If you allow anyone, that also includes _yourself, _toharm her, I will personally _kill _you."

Stepping away from a somewhat worried Makoto, Hana said cheerfully, "Welcome to the family."


	21. Chapter 21 Busted

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 21: Busted**

Rei's sleep hadn't been particularly peaceful. Then, to make things that much more unpleasant, a loud, frustrated groan escaped her lips when the first raindrop landed on her nose. At least it wasn't raining hard . . . yet.

After turning off her communicator she had just curled up into a ball near a large rooftop air conditioning unit and went to sleep. She hadn't originally expected to stay where Mina had left her the night before, but she hadn't felt like facing her friends just yet. At the time, it had seemed like the easiest thing to do. She hadn't even bothered to de-transform from the previous night.

A night on a hard roof wasn't the most comforting place to sleep, and the shooting pain from her muscles as they protested being used for the first time that day was her first hint that it had been a stupid idea. Not entirely sure if she meant her decision to sleep on the roof, or her behavior toward a woman who was supposed to be the enemy, Rei rubbed her eyes and said out loud to herself, "What in the hell was I thinking?"

"Do you know the answer to your own question, or are you asking me to answer it?"

Rei forced herself to stand up despite the numbness she now felt in her left foot as Setsuna stepped out from behind the air conditioning system.

Clenching her fists in frustration Rei growled, "How long have you been here?" Then she waved her gloved hand as if to dismiss her. "Never mind. I don't have time to talk to someone who practically sold us out."

A small smile appeared on her lips as Setsuna ignored Rei's outburst. Bringing up a hand to block Rei from departing, she said, "So, you don't know."

Rei stretched her arms and yawned before saying, "Oh please! I'm not awake enough for this garbage yet. Can't you torment me later?"

For the first time since Rei had known the woman, a look of inpatience crossed Setsuna's face. "No time like the present."

Rei pushed past her as she said, "I'm not going to talk to you until you tell me why I should even trust you, traitor." She said the last word as if it were a swear word. As if to emphasize her point, the pace at which rain drops darkened the surface they stood on quickened.

Without turning around, the Senshi of time said simply, "Because you and I are on the same side now, for lack of a better description." Turning just enough to look over her shoulder at Rei, she continued, "My job has never been to protect any of you or save the earth. That's your job. My responsibility is to insure that time flows how it is supposed to. For both to happen . . ." She turned around to regard Rei closely as she finished, ". . . I need your help just as much as you need my help, Rei Hino."

Rei felt hope flutter though her soul for a moment, but traded it for anger. Stomping her foot in frustration, she yelled, "Like hell I'm going to help you! You told _them_ about _us_! If you hadn't meddled in _their_ lives, _we_ wouldn't even be having this conversation! How many ways can I say this? You're a traitor, Setsuna. You practically handed Ami over to people you knew were going to wind up as our enemies when you could have warned us about them! It's your fault they even found us to begin with! If you hadn't done any of this then maybe--"

The glare Setsuna shot at Rei made her cut her words short. Setsuna let the uncomfortable silence hang in the damp air a moment before speaking. "Don't you _dare_ question my intentions." For some reason Rei wasn't sure of, Setsuna's anger felt like a slap in the face.

After letting her words sink in, Setsuna continued. "If I hadn't done anything, their world would have been doomed to a fate it didn't deserve, and the woman you long for would be cursed with an eternal fate worse than death. What's more, you, and all of your friends' destinies would have been forever altered. Their future and yours would have been destroyed. They would have spent the rest of eternity as slaves, and the eternal peace that you and the other Senshi strive to bring with the foundation of Crystal Tokyo would never come to be. I did what I did because I _had_ to do it to protect you, your friends, them, and both of your worlds from destruction. Most important of all, it insures the proper flow of time. The cost is expensive, but it is a necessary expense."

Rei opened her mouth to say something, then closed it as she thought about what Setsuna had said. "What do you mean longing for?" She quickly stuttered out, "I . . . I . . . I'm not longing for anybody!"

Setsuna grabbed Rei's shoulder and turned her around violently so she was facing the other direction as she said, "You mean you aren't longing for her?"

In the time it took Rei to blink, everything, including her clothing had dried and night had returned. She blinked a few times in the darkness, but was surprised by the fact that her eyes didn't need to adjust. Just as she was about to ask Setsuna a question, she saw Dark Venus touch down on the rooftop several feet away from her, clutching Rei . . . herself . . . close.

Despite the fact that it was a moment of her own life from just the night before, Rei suddenly felt like an intruder on a moment that belonged to someone else. Everything, even the night breeze froze just after Mina let her cargo stumble forward and allowed herself to fall to her knees in exhaustion.

Rei walked toward the two in wonder. They were as still as statues.

She stopped to look at herself and said, almost laughing at the absurdity of it all, "Man! Talk about your out of body experience!" She . . . that is her from the night before . . . had stopped in mid step as Mina had let her go, her arms out at her side as if she had been pretending to be an air plane. Her expression was one of surprise from the sudden landing. Her hair had frozen exactly as it was in the air, every strand exactly how it had been the moment Setsuna had . . . stopped time.

Suddenly feeling horrified, Rei turned to look at Setsuna and said nervously, "I thought if you stop time, that you go . . ." Rei made a sound that resembled static and spread her arms out slowly before continuing her thought out loud, "You know, _Kabluey_!"

Shaking her head slowly, Sailor Pluto replied, "No, this is different. This moment has already happened. We are just observers."

Rei's face scrunched up in confusion. "But, if we are still moving, then that means this is a moment of our lives, which means time hasn't stopped for us. So if you stopped time, then we are still going through time. You know, as in our lives, time? So, even if you stop time in the past you should . . ." Rei kept moving her hands without talking as she tried to work through the problem at hand. As the gears in her head frantically turned, she had just enough brain power left to think that not even Ami could have answered this one.

Instead of answering the technical question, Setsuna put her hand on Rei's shoulder and turned her gently toward Mina. "Look into her eyes and tell me what you feel."

Rei's rambling stopped the moment she made eye contact with the frozen Sekkou. Despite being tired from her recent ordeal, Dark Venus was smiling. Not an evil demented smile, but a genuine one, full of life and hope. It probably had only lasted a few seconds, but it had happened. Her heart started to beat just a little faster as she looked deeper and deeper into that face. She found herself getting _lost_ in the eyes of her enemy. The blonde looked so vulnerable, frozen like that on her knees. That observation made Rei's heart ache just a bit. Without even thinking about it, she started to bring up a hand to try to help her up.

Rather than wait for Rei to answer, Setsuna spoke for her. "It's different from when you look at Minako, isn't it? It's not quite love, not quite like looking at a friend, and it's definitely not like looking at an enemy, is it. That feeling you have is _longing_, Rei. You are longing to get to know her. Longing to touch her, and have her. Possess her, even. Maybe even to . . . love her."

Then, Setsuna turned Rei back to face her, and just like that, the dreary rainy morning returned.

"I'm here to tell you, that if you want to do more than long, you will have to help me, Rei." Setsuna put a hand on Rei's shoulder and said, "Come with me. I have something I need you to see."

Rei knew it was her imagination, but she was certain it was raining just a little harder.

* * *

Ami unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed her bag from the backseat, saying, "Thank you for the ride to work, Mako-chan. I would have been soaked by now if I had to walk."

"Don't mention it," Makoto said. "Besides, it's my fault you're late. It's the least I could do."

Ami's cheeks turned a slight shade of pink as she thought to herself that it hadn't entirely been Makoto's fault. She hadn't exactly tried to put a stop to the early morning activities. Instead of commenting, she said, "I'll see you here after work, Makoto." Then she opened the door to get out, and started running toward the building.

Ami had only taken a few steps before Makoto rolled down the window and yelled, "Hey! Didn't you forget something?"

Ami turned back around and ran to Makoto's driver side window. When she got there she said, "I don't think so. Is it important? If not, I think I should jus--"

Makoto wrapped her arms around her and pulled Ami's face into the car and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Then she said, "That's better, now you can go."

A flustered Ami looked around for a moment to be certain no one saw, then she straightened her damp hair as best she could before resuming her run for the doors. Makoto turned around in her seat and watched Ami in the rearview mirror as she ran toward the building before putting the car into drive.

The instant the doors closed behind Ami, she heard someone clear their throat. "It's not like you to be late, Mizuno Sensei. Classes start in five minutes. You wouldn't want to be a bad example for your students, now, would you?" She cringed inwardly, and looked in the direction the voice had come from. Assistant Principal Yukichi Nakamura gave her a disapproving glare.

Ami bowed politely and said softly, "My ride had some car trouble, sir. I'm sorry to cut this short, but I must hurry to be sure I make it to my first class on time." Ami felt bad about lying, but she had no wish to be chewed out by administration twice in one week, and unlike Principal Takahashi, Assistant Principal Nakamura wasn't as easy a man to please.

She looked up, and was grateful to see him nod his head dismissively as he said, "Don't make it a habit, Sensei. I'd hate to see your career at our fine, respected school come to an untimely end if you did."

Yukichi watched Ami bow politely, then scurry on her way down the hall. Once he was certain she was out of hearing distance, he grumbled to himself, "Your ride, indeed. People like you have no place in proper society." He shook his head once in disgust, then stepped back into his office to attend to more important matters.

He would deal with Mizuno later.

* * *

Makoto knew her presence here wouldn't change the fact that her contractor's progress with the remodel was slower than she had hoped, but she just couldn't find it in her to stay away.

After fumbling with the keys to unlock the door, she stepped into the middle of an orchestrated mess. The windows were covered with plywood from the outside to conceal the chaos within, which was a good thing in her opinion. Stacks of plywood and table saws had replaced the old tables and booths, half of the light fixtures had been removed along with a quarter of the ceiling, and the floor had been stripped to bare concrete. The workers hadn't arrived for the day, so she was alone.

She walked past the remains of the dining room to enter the kitchen. Here, the sound of the rain banging against the roof like pebbles was louder since the entire ceiling had been stripped to the point she could see the superstructure and what remained of the ductwork. All of the cabinets, sinks and appliances had been removed, save for one.

It had been Makoto's decision that they would keep the old steam table. She knew it was silly, but she wanted to keep it for sentimental reasons, a link to the past of sorts. On the up side, she was happy to see the workers had completed something. The new white linoleum flooring had been put in, so the workers could at least start working on finishing up the kitchen.

As she looked around, she tried to imagine how it would all look when it was done. White, clean, new. Panda Paradise and Bakery would have all the trappings of a modern, five star restaurant. Romantic corner booths, snazzy lighting, interesting art work, a first rate modern kitchen.

The works. Or at least, for what Makoto was paying for the remodel, it had better be.

Some of this wasn't so hard to see, since the walk in freezer was apparently completed as well, still with a protective layers of film over the surface of the door. She couldn't help but admire it since she saw it as a glance into the future of her business. A glance into the future of her very life's work.

She walked over to the new stainless steel freezer door, and ran her fingers over it in a way that might have made Ami just a tad bit jealous. It was so smooth she could see her reflection in it.

As she looked at herself, she couldn't help but feel worried. This remodel had been a risky business move on her part, since it would involve being closed for at least a month. She was paying her most experienced help a full time pay check to try to keep them, but since she couldn't afford to do that for everyone, she knew she was going to have to scramble to replace several people before the grand reopening. Then, there was the worry that some of her regular customers might find other places to eat and not return.

It was worth it, though. They would be doubling the seating capacity in the dining room and space in the kitchen since she had bought the shop next door that had been closed up for years, and the new look would draw a crowd, she was sure.

Still lost in her thoughts, she patted the steel door again. She said, "Yeah, it'll be great." Then she laughed at herself for how silly she was being. Everything would be fine.

Her mind made up, she turned to leave.

Then, she heard a quiet knocking sound and froze in her steps. At first, she chided herself for being so jumpy. It was probably just a draft. The sound stopped, and she started leaving again. She had only taken one step before the sound started again. This time, she heard it a little louder, and just a bit too regular to be coincidental noise.

"Who's there?" Whoever this vandal was, they were going to get the surprise of their life. "I'm warning you, if you don't leave now, I'll make you wish you had."

The quiet tapping continued, almost like someone keeping time to music. It sounded like it was close, but she couldn't tell where it was coming from. She turned around slowly, and without warning, the sound stopped. The only thing she saw was the steam table, new flooring, unfinished walls . . . nothing else. No one was there.

She shook her head in frustration. Perhaps she was just jumping at shadows after all. She looked back at her reflection in the freezer door and said to herself, "Guess I need a vacation anyway. Add that to my list of reasons why all of this is a good idea."

Her reflection winked at her and gave her a thumbs up in response.

Ami had told them all about her first encounter with the Sekkou, so Makoto knew what was coming. Her transformation wand appeared in her hand and she felt electricity wrap around her. Half way through her transformation phase, her attacker balled up her fist and threw a punch, badly denting the new door.

Sailor Jupiter jumped as the loud sound shattered the silence. She readied herself, determined the first blow would be hers, and watched as her double threw a kick in an attempt to break out of her steal prison, with much the same results as her first attempt.

Makoto stepped away and tried not to laugh. The Sekkou couldn't get through! After a third clang rang out, she folded her arms in front of her chest and gave her double an amused smile. "Don't you realize that thing is expensive?"

This time, she didn't hold back her laughter as her double stepped back and rubbed her hand. Sailor Jupiter said between fits of giggles, "Aw, did you hurt your wittle hand? Serves you right!"

Lita glared at her and said something. While Makoto couldn't hear a sound from the woman's lips, she was certain it was an insult of some sort. Makoto, sensing the danger had passed (minus the repair costs for the new fridge) shrugged and said, "Well, you win some, you lose some. Better luck next time, champ." With that, Makoto casually walked back into the dining room to leave.

Still smiling confidently to herself as she made her way to the door, she said, "Well, this'll give me something interesting to talk to Ami about." She giggled to herself as a thought came to her. "She's so cute when she babbles about physics, even if I don't understand a word she's saying."

She reached for the door handle and froze perfectly still. "You've got to be kidding me."

In the dim light, she could just make out her reflection in the glass door. Dark Jupiter's smile was anything but friendly. Lita's lips moved again, and while Makoto still couldn't hear her, this time she didn't have to. The words '_You're mine!' _are not that hard to lip read.

Makoto yelled in surprise as Lita's fist broke through the glass, and yanked Makoto through the glass door _and_ the protective plywood, sending her slamming into the middle of the parking lot.

Dazed momentarily, Makoto just lay where she had crashed, clutching her side which had been badly cut as she had passed through the window. Then she forced herself to stand and face her opponent.

Once again, she transformed into Sailor Jupiter as Dark Jupiter calmly started walking toward her. Before the Sekkou reached her, two portals opened up to either side of her attacker as Dark Hotaru and Saturn literally stepped back into Makoto's life. Seeing as she was injured and now outnumbered 3 to 1, Makoto did something that she had learned only from years of experience in fighting.

Still clutching her wound and swallowing her pride, Makoto did the only thing she could. She turned toward the street and ran as fast as she could. As she ran from her attackers, she moved her hand away from her injury just long enough to activate her communicator. She needed help, and she needed it _fast_.

* * *

While her students took their test on the latest chapter of Earth Science, Ami busied herself grading her students' homework. She put a circle around the last answer on this student's paper, then quietly flipped the next before her.

As she stared at the paper, her mind wandered back to Makoto for the third time this morning since she had been dropped off. This time it was about Makoto's eyes and how they sparkled in the star light during their first date. And how that same sparkle dimmed somewhat when Ami didn't say 'I love you' back to her.

She still hadn't, now that she thought about it.

She didn't know why it had just occurred to her that she had yet to say those words to Makoto. She had said them to herself when thinking about the woman, but she just felt awkward when ever she tried to say it out loud, as if it were something bad, or at times, silly. Perhaps it was years of her mother rubbing in to her that it was something one was supposed to be extremely careful to say to someone else. 'Don't ever give your heart away too quickly, or you will be asking to get hurt', she had said over and over.

She removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes, trying to ward off the headache she was starting to get. Love and romance had always been the most complicated subject for her. She whispered to herself, "You have to stop beating yourself up over pointless little things."

Out of nowhere, a student quietly asked, "Uh . . . Sensei Mizuno? Could you please answer your cell phone? It's distracting us."

Ami sat up straight, as if she had been struck by lightning. Reaching for her bag to retrieve her cell phone, she said nervously, "Oh, I must have forgotten to turn it off. I am so sorry. I--" Then she realized the steady beeping sound wasn't her cell phone, but her senshi communicator tucked away in her pocket. None of them dared use their communicators at this time of day anymore unless it was for a _very _good reason, since all of them had jobs to worry about. For appearance's sake, she grabbed the cell phone and said to her class, "This will only take a moment."

She closed the door to her classroom and ignored the sounds of her students chattering in her absence as she looked around to make certain she was alone.

She flipped on her communicator and Makoto's face appeared on her screen. Before Ami could speak, she yelled, "I'm near . . . 4-11-26 Minami Azabu Minato-ku and I need assistance _now_!" Before she could say anything else, the screen flashed bright blue as the transmission ended abruptly, cutting Makoto off mid scream.

Ami tried to make a few adjustments to the signal, but nothing happened. Trying to stay calm but unable to keep her voice from shaking, she said out loud, "Makoto?"

She didn't answer. That meant something had probably happened to her communicator, or worse.

This was the situation they all knew would happen eventually. If an enemy ever attacked during a work day, it was most likely that few, if any of them, would be able to get away long enough to even answer their communicators, let alone be able to sneak away from work without giving away there identities.

Unless they just outright walked off the job.

The choice was easy for Ami. If she was lucky, she could walk away with a reprimand. Her career was important, but not nearly as important as Makoto.

She walked back into her classroom and started packing her bag. As her class quieted back down, she said as calmly as she could, "I'm sorry class, but I have to leave. An emergency has been brought to my attention that I must attend to."

She put her bag over her shoulder as she turned toward the door. "A substitute teacher will be here to--" Then she stopped dead in her tracks at the sight before her.

One of the girls in Ami's class yelled out, "Hey, cool! Two Sailor Senshi."

Dark Mercury and Dark Venus stood just outside her classroom door, waiting almost casually for Ami to notice them. When Ami made eye contact with them, Mina smiled and waved as if they were old friends.

Ami went over to the class representative student sitting in the chair closest to the door. The girl shrunk back in her seat nervously, as if Ami were going to ask her a question she didn't know the answer to. "Yes, Mizuno Sensei?"

Ami said patiently, "Tanaka-san, I need you to lead the class out the other door and lead them to the gym. Tell Yoshida Sensei that rather unusual circumstances have caused me to have to evacuate the building. When it is safe to do so, elaborate as best you can. Pull the fire alarm on your way out, and whatever you do, don't let anyone come back. Understand?"

A quiet murmur went up amongst the students that had overheard her as the class rep asked, "Where will you be?"

Ami looked back up as the two women stepped inside. "I am going to try to . . . reason with them." Seeing the worried expression in her students' eyes she added, "Don't worry. I'll be all right. Go."

Just as the class rep started to speak, Dark Venus' whip formed in her hand and she cracked it over the students' heads. The enraged Sekkou shrieked, "Go on! Scram!"

That was all the warning the children needed to flee. However, few of them listened to the class rep as she tried to maintain order, instead choosing to run wildly out of the room in any direction they could that would take them as far away from there as possible.

As the last of the panicked students left, Mina declared, "There now, wasn't that a much simpler form of crowd control? No innocent bystanders to interrupt us while we have our little . . . chat." Then she raised her whip with every intention of making an attempt at cleaving off one of Ami's arms.

Just before she could send the lethal weapon in Ami's direction, Amy brought up her hand to stop her, yelling, "Wait!" Mina protested, but Amy ignored her, instead turning her attention to Ami. "Before we begin the festivities, I do have one question to ask you."

Ami had already started to transform the moment the last student left the room. Trying to stall for time as she frantically thought of another plan, she asked, "and that would be?"

A perplexed expression crossed Amy's face. "Why a teacher?"

The question hadn't been anything like what Ami had expected her demented double to ask. It was all Ami could do to reply almost dumbly, "Uh . . . excuse me?"

Spreading her arms out wide, Amy repeated, "Why teach?" She pointed at herself and said, "I don't know about you for certain, but I always wanted to be a doctor when I was growing up. I never got a choice in what I would do with my future, though. Instead, I have spent the better part of fifteen years in the service of her majesty, doing her every bidding. If I had a choice of what I could have actually done in that time . . . well . . . I can't say I'd have become a doctor, but teaching just strikes me as . . . somewhat beneath my abilities in the way of choices."

The strobe lights and blaring sound of the fire alarm filled the room at that moment, causing Mina to lose her patience. "We don't have time for this!" she hissed at her subordinate. Then she pushed Amy out of the way and sent her whip flying at Ami's head.

Ami rolled to avoid the lethal attack, but was blown off her feet by an attack from Dark Mercury, sending her crashing against the far wall. As school supplies, paper, and parts of desks crashed around her, Ami started to stand and defend herself, but was stopped when Dark Venus put her foot on Sailor Mercury's stomach, pinning her in a sitting position against the wall.

Smiling triumphantly, Dark Venus said, "And now, my pretty little friend . . . you will die." She dramatically swung her whip around, wanting to see fear in Ami's eyes before her untimely end.

However, Sailor Mercury wasn't about to give her the satisfaction. Instead, she held up her hands and called out, "_**Mercury Aqua Mirage**_!"

At point blank range, the results were spectacular. The blast of water was so powerful that it sent Amy and Mina flying away from her to smash against the opposite side of the room. However, it also blew the entire section of wall, part of the floor, and Ami away from the building. Ami had known this would happen. The tremendous destruction to her classroom had bought time for her to get a head start toward Makoto. If her two attackers played their parts right, it would also lead them away from the school, hopefully to a more suitable fighting ground.

As Ami fell through the air, she suddenly found herself thinking about the only 'down' side to her plan. The class she had been teaching was on the third floor. She screamed as she watched the parking lot pavement rush up to greet her.

* * *

"You wanted me to see the inside of a Starbucks coffee shop?" Rei took the offered Styrofoam cup from Setsuna and took a sip before saying, "You know, I fail to see what espresso has to do with my future, Setsuna."

Setsuna shrugged and said, "Sometimes the path through life takes you to fantastic locations, others it takes you to unexpected . . . and rather mundane ones." Taking a sip from her own drink, she finished, "The place is rarely of importance anyway. It's the events that transpire there that are. Besides, I like a cup of coffee first thing in the morning."

Rei rolled her eyes and turned toward the window to watch the rain continue to fall. At least the caffeine would help her wake up before whatever her reason for being here came about. After several more minutes, nothing happened. Just the usual chatter and clanking of dishes.

Nothing ground breaking what-so-ever.

It was so . . . _boring_.

"I don't even_ like_ coffee." After downing another sip, Rei set her cup down and scoffed, "This is stupid. We've been here long enough for us to drink two cups of bland, overpriced coffee and nothing has happened."

Outright ignoring Rei's rant, Setsuna said simply, "Muffin?"

"What?"

"Would you like a muffin? It may help keep you from getting heartburn later."

Rei didn't even bother to respond. She just turned back to the window for what felt like the thousandth time. After waiting even longer, Rei let her impatience control her. Thumping her hand on the table just loud enough to get Setsuna's attention, she said,"This is a waste of time."

"I beg your pardon?"

Rei looked at the woman seated across from her and grumbled, "Whatever is going to happen, it's not going to happen here." With that, Rei grabbed the umbrella Setsuna had brought with her and said, "Well, I'm sorry to ruin your wonderful little plan, Setsuna-san, but I am going to leave. Destiny can find me. I'm not going to sit around and wait for it to fall in my lap." She stood up and started to walk away from the table, eager to end whatever game Setsuna was playing.

Taking another sip of coffee, Setsuna said calmly, "As you wish."

Rei stopped and looked over her shoulder in annoyance at her companion. "You aren't going to stop me?" When Setsuna said nothing, Rei decided to speak for her. "Let me guess. I'm _supposed _to walk out? Whatever it is that's supposed to happen isn't even _here_?" Throwing her arms up in the air, Rei bit out, "Why have we been wasting our time here when we should just be waiting somewhere else?!"

Setsuna didn't even look up. She just took yet another sip of tasteless coffee and asked, "Would you rather have waited in the rain?"

Rei went back to the table and gripped it in frustration. If it hadn't been bolted to the floor, she might have overturned it. Ignoring the looks from bystanders, she yelled, "Stop playing games with me, damn it!"

Almost on cue, Setsuna took one final sip then stood up. As if they were having a perfectly civil conversation, Setsuna said, "Excuse me, Hino-san, but I must be going now. I have other matters that require my attention. I hope the day treats you well, and do try to stay dry, Rei-san."

As Setsuna walked away, Rei spread her arms out in disgust. "What? That's it? You're just leaving without even waiting around to witness your handiwork?"

In response, Setsuna calmly walked out the exit without even acknowledging her.

Rei just glared in the direction the Senshi of time had gone. Then she said to herself, "Oh no. I'm not going to play your flipping game this time. I'm going to sit down and wait for it to stop raining, then I'm going to go home and go back to my abnormal-enough-as-it-is life." Then she took her place at the table again, intending to do just that. "Yes sir, no destiny making events for me today, thank you.

She picked up her cup and swirled it around, looking into it as if it would give her her fortune. Then, as she brought the cup up to her lips for another drink, she stopped when she saw what was going on outside.

Through the window, she saw several terrified people running down the sidewalk. Then after a few seconds she witnessed Sailor Mercury and Jupiter running side by side in the same direction. Jupiter stopped running and started to turn around, but Mercury grabbed her shoulder and gave her a hard push, clearly indicating she felt the taller woman should keep running. When Makoto did as her companion advised, Ami stopped just long enough to fire off an attack at something out of view before running after Makoto again.

Rei threw her cup on the table, not caring whether it spilled or not. She swore under her breath as she ran for the door into the pouring rain, cursing Setsuna for ever existing.

* * *

This time when Makoto stopped, something about her posture told Ami she wasn't going to keep running anymore. Ami would have tried again to convince her to keep moving, but she was too out of breath to do so. Instead, Makoto tucked her damp hair behind her ears and placed her hand on Ami's shoulder, saying, "We make our stand here."

Instead of arguing, Ami looked up and watched the five Sekkou circling overhead and managed to wheeze out, "Why here? I thought we agreed . . ." She stopped for a moment to take in a few breaths and finished ". . . to somewhere more remote?"

Makoto smiled. "Because I don't think you nor I can run much longer, and because here, the odds are better."

Still gasping for air, Ami looked at Makoto and said "Normally . . . huff huff . . . I'd agree with . . . you . . . that two against four . . . gasp . . . aren't bad odds but . . . wheeze . . . but you . . . you are injured."

Before Makoto could elaborate, their pursuers touched down and started walking in a circle around the two of them like a pack of hungry wolves ready to make the kill.

Mina growled, "Aw, so our foxes have tired of the hunt so soon, have they?"

Trista said, "Now now, we mustn't rush this. Victory tastes so much better when you savor the flavor of it."

"Not so fast!"

The four Sekkou stopped circling and looked in the direction of the newcomer to the fight.

Sailor Mars stood on top of a parked car and shouted, "I can't stand it when people interrupt my coffee break! For love and justice I am the beautiful sailor-suited soldier, Sailor Mars! In the name of Mars, I'll punish you!"

"As will I! Sailor Pluto, appearing gracefully," added Setsuna with a nod as she stepped from behind the car.

A thunderclap tore through the air when Dark Jupiter decided not to waste time with words, sending a deadly bolt of electricity flying straight at Rei. It missed, but blew up the car she had been standing on just moments before. The explosion threw her in exactly the direction Lita had hoped she _wouldn't_ go. Straight toward _her_.

Setsuna had already started running toward the Sekkou an instant before Lita's attack, her staff raised high as she prepared to continue the fight with Hotaru. Their staffs smashed together rapidly as the Sekkou of time eagerly took up the challenge.

As Rei crashed into Lita, Ami and Makoto turned their attention to the remaining two Sekkou. Mina cracked her whip in warning as Amy switched on her visor.

Makoto said almost eagerly to Ami, "Well, which one do you want? The blue one or the yellow one?"

Ami looked into her double's eyes as her own visor sprang to life. She started formulating a plan for attack against her opponent. She looked into Amy's eyes . . . and lost almost all control over her thoughts as a flood of terrifying memories came back to her in an instant. The last time she had felt like this she had been weak and unable to fight back.

This time . . .

This time revenge was the only thing pouring through her mind and blood as she charged forward with what Makoto would only have described as a roar. She didn't even bother to use an attack, just ran at the Sekkou, letting her anger control her. It caught Amy completely by surprise, which gave Ami enough time to wrap her hands around the woman's throat. Then Ami kneed her in the stomach and let her go, watching with a strange amount of sadistic glee as the woman slumped to the ground in agony. Then, with tears of pure rage running down her face, Ami began repeatedly stomping on Amy.

Mercilessly.

She almost lunged forward to stop Ami, because in the back of her mind it scared Makoto that Ami had let that much anger build up inside, but she stopped before she even started moving. This was something Ami needed to do on her own.

This was personal.

"Well, I suppose that answers that." Instead, she cracked her fingers and turned her attention to Mina, saying, "Shall we dance?"

Dark Venus smiled. "But of course. _**Venus Metallic Crush!**__"_

Makoto dove to the ground just in time to avoid a lamp post as it came flying out of nowhere, smashing itself into the ground where Makoto had stood only moments before. She had just enough time to jump out of the way again as Dark Venus sent her whip cracking at her. Sailor Jupiter jumped to her feet, but a third attack never came.

Sailor Mars stood behind Dark Venus, holding the woman in a headlock. Rei said to Makoto as she strained to keep control of the situation, "Let's say we switch dance partners."

Before Makoto could even respond, she found herself dodging an attack from her new opponent. The fury of Lita's attack was startling at first, until Makoto realized the reason for it. She was the only thing standing between Lita and Amy.

At first, Lita was able to land a few blows on Makoto, since she wasn't able to fight as well due to her injury. After a blow landed against the side of Makoto's face though, a thought came to her. Makoto was the only thing between Lita and _Ami_! From somewhere deep with in her, Makoto found it in her to start bringing the fight to her attacker. She delivered a powerful kick to Lita's ribs, causing a loud cracking sound to fill the air.

It didn't even slow the woman down.

Meanwhile, Trista stood aside, watching the fight rage on around her as if it didn't concern her. True, she could have rushed to any one of her comrades' aid and turned the battle to their favor at any moment. However, that wasn't the objective this time. Her purpose in this fight didn't require combat. The purpose of this fight was to deliver a different sort of damage to the enemy, as well as take care of an . . . internal problem.

She watched with some amusement as Rei and Mina began dodging each other's attacks. "A lovers' quarrel," she said to herself. Her smile grew just a bit more as Mina delivered a punch to Rei's gut. "Now, now darlings, that's no way to solve a problem."

Then, she heard what she had been waiting for. Police sirens wailed in the distance. "Now this, _this_ is how one solves a problem."

She arrogantly walked through the rubble toward the Sekkou and Senshi of Mercury. Ami was in so much of an animalistic rage as she delivered another powerful kick to her opponent, that she didn't even see her walking up. Dark Saturn grabbed Mercury by the throat and threw her to the ground seemingly without effort, then twirled around and tossed a ball of energy at Sailor Jupiter, sending her flying out of the street and crashing through a store front window for the second time in a day.

As she pulled Amy to her feet, Trista yelled out, "Fall back! We're leaving!" Her mission completed, she activated her portal and departed.

Without question, Hotaru and Lita followed her lead. As Amy picked herself off the ground, she groaned out in pain, but not before she glanced at Mina. In mock confusion she asked, "Oh, is something wrong?"

Mina tapped her pendant several times, but nothing happened. Feeling her frustration grow she looked up at Amy and said, "It's not working." For emphasis, she removed her choker and held it out for Amy to see, then said, "It's not a problem. I'll come with you."

Just as she started to take a step, the battered woman shrugged, activated her portal and left. It collapsed as soon as Amy was through it

Mina just stood there, looking at the now empty place Amy had been moments before. Just like that, they had _left_ her _behind_!

Ami, Setsuna, and Rei stood around her, waiting to see what she would do. Before the lone Sekkou could come to her own decision, the situation changed drastically.

Several Tokyo Police Department vehicles screeched to a halt as what looked like the entire precinct began rushing into position around them. Men started shouting orders as several drew their guns and aimed them in their direction. A man called out over a loudspeaker as he stated the obvious. "We have you surrounded, and there is nowhere for you to go. You are all under arrest! Put your hands behind your heads and walk slowly toward the nearest police officer."

Rei looked around at the men, feeling somewhat lost as she asked, "Are they talking to us?"

Mina glared at the men as they continued to form their perimeter around them. "They speak to us as if we are commoners."

Ami rubbed her throat where Trista had grabbed her and asked the question she was accustomed to everyone else asking. "What do we do?"

Setsuna answered her as if they were talking over morning tea. She put her hands behind her head. "We stand down, and hope Makoto has the intelligence to stay out of sight." Then, she started to walk forward as the officer on the loud speaker bellowed out instructions to her.

The other Senshi reluctantly started to follow her lead. Rei saw movement out the corner of her eye. She looked just in time to see Dark Venus rise off the ground, her whip re-forming once again in her hands. Sailor Mars yelled out, "Mina! No, don't do it!"

Dark Venus once again sent her whip flying through the air, this time intending to slash the officer that had been sending orders through the loud speaker in half. Without hesitation, a rifleman took aim and fired before it ever reached there.

Mina let out a shriek of pain and surprise after the bullet flew through her shoulder as she crashed to the ground, yelling in pain and rage at being taken down by a mere mortal. Rei started to run toward her, when one of the police officers grabbed her wrists and snapped a pair of handcuffs on her as he grumbled, "You're lucky we don't shoot all of you."

Makoto groaned and brought her hand to her head as she came to. As she opened her eyes, she saw a blurry black form standing above her. A man's voice asked, "Are you all right?"

As her eyes cleared, she realized she was looking at the dark uniform of a police officer. Clearly something had changed after she had been knocked out. She sat up suddenly, but winced as pain shot down her side from her wound. A hand seemed to come out of nowhere, pushing her back down. Makoto groaned, "Where are they?"

She didn't expect to get an answer from the man, so she was surprised when he said, "Don't worry about them, you're safe. Look, just relax, lady." When Makoto started to try to get up again, he put his hand on her shoulder and again forced her to lie down. "You're a bit banged up, but from what they did to the street, you're lucky to be alive, kiddo."

Makoto focused on his face for a moment. He couldn't possibly be more than 23 with a face like that. She said, "Don't you talk to me like that, _Kiddo_. I'm nearly 30." Rather than fight with him, though, she stayed down this time. It hurt to move anyway.

The last thing she could remember she was fighting with Lita and then . . . She didn't remember _anything _after that.

She looked around for a moment trying to get her bearings. She had apparently been hit so hard that she had de-transformed when she had been knocked unconscious. She was lying on a stretcher that was carefully being loaded onto an ambulance. The police seemed to be everywhere but she couldn't see . . .

Then she saw Ami's familiar yet nervous blue eyes looking at her from the back of a squad car.

She looked back at the officer who had been helping the paramedics get her in the ambulance. "You _arrested_ them? But they saved my life!" she said, doing her best at pretending to be a helpless bystander.

The officer shrugged and replied, "That may be, but I don't think the captain was too pleased when one of them tried to kill him." When Makoto started to protest again, he held up his hand and said, "Don't worry. I'm certain that everything will be sorted out with them down at the station. Take care, kiddo." Then he slammed the doors to the ambulance shut, ending any more questions from what he saw as just another confused bystander.


	22. Chapter 22 Hanna to the Rescue

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 22: Hana to the Rescue**

First, they were taken by separate squad cars to the station. Then, they went through the booking process. Next, they were interviewed separately by detectives. But it wasn't until the cage doors clanked shut that it finally hit Ami that she was actually in jail. After fighting a whole host of intergalactic monsters, she found it strange that she was feeling a great amount of apprehension about the situation.

Sailor Mercury couldn't bring herself to look at her companions. She just shuffled over to the bunk and sat down on the lower bed, studying her feet in embarrassment.

She had never been in jail before.

Despite that she had only been in her cell for less than a minute, Mercury was finding the entire affair to be humiliating. Cold gray concrete floor and dull cinder block walls and the thick cage doors were all she could see. Or rather, all she would have seen if she bothered to look up.

She felt the mattress shift as Sailor Mars sat down next to her. She put her arm around Mercury's shoulder and said, "First time, huh?"

She nodded slowly as she started to take an interest in her own hands. She was just about to reply when it registered what Mars had said. Mercury finally looked at her and said, "This isn't your first time?"

The Martian senshi giggled, then replied, "Heck, no! Me, Makoto, Haruka, and Minako all got busted back during senior year of high school for, uh . . ." She stopped talking a moment as her cheeks turned red.

She took her hand away from Mercury's shoulder and started rubbing the back of her head. "Well, this is sorta embarrassing."

Mercury blinked, then spread her arms out a bit, indicating the cell, saying, "And this isn't?"

Sailor Pluto's voice came from the bunk above them like the voice of a reassuring god. "The authorities actually had a good reason to arrest us. Vigilantism is a crime." As she continued, Sailor Pluto actually sounded amused. "However, the reason I had to pick them up was totally uncalled for. Shall I tell her the story or do you want to do it?"

Mars sighed. "Well, me, Makoto, and Minako were all out for a night on the town. You know, girls' night out kinda thing, right? Harmless fun. Couple of beers were had by all." She scoffed at the memory, then amended, "Well . . . maybe more than a couple."

When Sailor Mars saw Mercury's shocked expression she said, "What? Don't tell me you actually waited to toss back a few until you were legal."

Her teacher mode kicked in as she crossed her arms and glared at the other woman. "Underage drinking is illegal."

Not realizing that she didn't answer the question, Mars shrugged and said, "Well, um . . . that's why we didn't invite you. We thought you'd . . . ya know, stop us. So anyway, we were totally smashed. I mean stumbling, giggling, double vision, drunk. It was downright embarrassing. So we decided to take the subway home. Trying to be good, responsible drinkers."

Pluto's voice added, "But you three were so drunk that you got off on the wrong stop."

Sailor Mars jumped up and glared at the woman on the top bunk. "I'm telling this story!" Then she sat back down next to Sailor Mercury again and said, "Pay no attention to her, Ami. Everyone gets drunk at least once in their life."

Mercury and Pluto said at the same time, "Really? I haven't."

Mars sighed and decided to ignore them. "We got off in . . ." She turned a darker red that rivaled every fiery attack she had ever formed as she incoherently mumbled the last part.

A slight pink color tinted her cheeks as Sailor Mercury sat up a bit straighter and said, "I'm sorry? I did not quite hear the last part. Did you just say . . ."

It was clear from the outer planetary Senshi's voice that she was smiling. "She said Yoshiwara district."

There was a long pause as Mars covered her face and Mercury's cheeks turned a more impressive shade of red. After Pluto's words had fully sunk in, Sailor Mercury smacked Mars on the back of the head and yelled, "What were the three of you doing in a red light district?!"

Mars brought her hands up, waving them frantically to ward off Mercury and yelled back, "Come on! We were just a bunch of drunk high school kids who got lost, ok? It could have happened to anyone!"

Mercury and Pluto responded with, "It never happened to me."

Mars slammed her fist into the underside of Pluto's mattress. "You stay out of this."

Pluto's calm voice said, "But this is the best part."

Mars looked away from Mercury. "So I called Haruka to pick us up. We did everything we were supposed to Ami, honest. We stayed together in a brightly lit, crowded area and kept out of arm's reach of everyone until she got there."

She decided to leave out the details of Makoto beating a man for propositioning her, since she didn't want to get any of them in even more trouble with Ami than they already were. Then she continued her story.

"So, Haruka pulls up in her nice yellow sports car and beeps the horn to get our attention. Naturally, we run over. Well, you know how Haruka is. She rolled down the window and in our . . . intoxicated state, we leaned in. So, Haruka says 'Hey kittens, need a lift?' Next thing we know, a police officer is tapping on Haruka's driver side window and we are slammed in the slammer. Haruka for several counts of propositioning minors and us for well, ya know . . . it looked a little bad."

She had heard this story from Haruka dozens of times, but for some reason it always made Pluto laugh. This time was no exception.

Ignoring her again, Sailor Mars finished her story. "So . . . yeah. Haruka and the rest of us wound up in the cell just down that way until Setsuna could bail us out."

She turned to look at the Senshi of water, expecting to see at least some amusement, but all she saw was concern. "Oh come on, Ami. It was over ten years ago now. You can't be mad at us for that today. We were just kids! We --"

Sailor Mercury interrupted her. "I'm not upset with you. I'm worried about Makoto. Where is she? Shouldn't they have finished interrogating her by now?"

When no one had an answer for her, the tension in her stomach worsened.

* * *

At this point in her career, her job kept her doing more administrative work than she liked.

So at first, when the call came to her desk asking for her assistance in the emergency room, she jumped at the chance to dust off her stethoscope and do some actual _work _for a change. Unfortunately, the assistance the E.R. wanted was help with a nice heap load of paperwork, plus a couple of irate police officers and a detective to deal with for an interesting mix.

Dr. Mizuno finished filling out the proper forms and handed them back to the registered nurse. Then she turned her attention back to the police officer. "Now let me get this straight. You shot a suspect because they were dangerous to half the police in the city, and now you are upset because one of my nurses had to sedate this person to work on them. I'm sorry, sir, but if the patient is badly injured and in a . . ." she grabbed the clipboard back from the nurse to make sure she read it correctly then continued, "a 'psychotic rage' and 'not capable of rational thought due to possible mental illness', we have no choice but to sedate them so we can protect them from themselves and my staff from them. Your questions will have to wait until after her surgery is complete and all of the drugs are out of her system."

The detective rolled his eyes. "Fine. We'll be back in a few hours to pick up our prisoner."

Setting the clipboard down, Hana said calmly, "Actually, you are more than welcome to leave a guard or two if you feel such a need, but you will have to return in about three to four days."

The dropped jaws of the three men in front of her made her feel she had to elaborate. "The anesthesiologist had to use a surprisingly large dose of a stage three general anesthetic surgical drug to put this woman under, and she will require several surgeries over the next twenty four hours. If you want your answers to be at least coherent, I'm sorry, but you will have to wait three days at least for the drugs to be completely out of her system."

When the detective started to protest, she held up her hand and said, "That's it, gentlemen. If you have any more questions you can talk to my superior. However, since he is on a week-long vacation, you will be better off waiting than trying to contact him. If you have any problems, you can talk to Nakamora, who just so happens to be the chief of police _and_ a good friend of mine. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some rather pressing work to do."

Despite complaints from the detective, Hana turned around and started to walked away in a manner that screamed, 'I'm in charge here, and I'm a serious, powerful woman the likes of which you'd do well not to mess with'. The only downside was that this walk was rather quick, and it meant she would be back at her desk with the mountain of papers.

Luckily she was saved by such a fate when another nurse walked quickly up beside her. "I'm sorry to disturb you, Doctor, but your presence is requested in the Emergency Room's waiting area by a rather angry patient."

Sighing in frustration as she tried to ignore the migraine she felt coming on, Hana turned back around and headed in the direction the nurse indicated. She couldn't help but wonder if their E.R. staff simply lacked the backbone people had when she worked there. Didn't they realize that this many incidences in a single day that required the assistance of more experienced help would only lead to more inservices and meetings that no one wanted to attend?

The sight she saw as she entered made her immediately take back her criticism of the staff.

Holding a paramedic by his collars against the wall, was the angriest woman Hana had ever seen.

The enraged woman screamed, "I'm not letting _any _of you so much as _touch_ me until my doctor gets here! Ya hear me?"

Hana narrowed her eyes at the back of the woman, then yelled out, "Kino Makoto! Put that man down this instant!"

Makoto flinched noticeably at the words, but she still held him for a few seconds, then gave him a rough shake and finally let him slide down the wall before turning to face Hana. A part of Hana found it interesting that Makoto had gone from being furious to totally guilt-ridden in seconds.

Makoto still kept a hand pressed against her wound and looked down at it, partially in pain, but mostly to avoid looking into Hana's eyes as she said, "I need your help, Dr. Mizuno, and not just for stitches."

* * *

They had passed the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon in relative silence until lunch came. Still transformed as senshi, Rei and Ami sat on the lower bunk and ate, while Setsuna stood on the other side of the room nibbling on hers. Then discussion slowly started back up, revolving around what they were going to do now.

"I say we blast our way out! All in favor?" Rei held up her fork after taking another bite of the dreadful food they had been given, then made an irritated grunting sound when neither of her cell mates held up theirs.

Ami shook her head. "I don't like it either, but 'blasting our way out' isn't going to improve our reputation with the police, Rei-chan. We need to do this through the legal system. It should be easy to prove that we were being attacked and merely defending ourselves. The forensics and any possible video evidence will show that clearly. We just need to be patient. In a couple of days we -- "

Rei shook her fist in the air, wishing for all the world she had something to vent her frustration on. "In a couple of days, you'll be out of a job, grandpa will have a heart attack worrying about where I am, we will be that much farther behind whatever the Sekkou will have done with Makoto by then, and . . . and . . . the police . . . they have Mina. Who knows what she'll tell them."

Setsuna leaned on the wall and said thoughtfully, "Rei does have a point, Ami."

Ami looked at the two of them in shock. "This is outrageous. We can't just smash our way out. We would hurt too many people. I cannot even believe that the two of you are suggesting it. It is not an option."

Setsuna took another bite of the tasteless lunch, then said, "Let me ask you this. Are you hungry, Sailor Mercury?"

Ami looked at her empty tray and blushed. She had eaten her food rather quickly. In her defense, she managed to squeak out, "What does that have to do with a jail break?"

"I'll answer that with another question. Ever wonder where we all get the energy to turn into senshi?"

"Yes, but I still don't . . . see . . ." Ami's eyes darted back and forth as the pieces fell into place. "Are you saying that's why we all have big appetites? Because our transformation power comes from our metabolisms?"

Setsuna shrugged. "I don't know for certain. It's never been tested, but it's been my theory since leaving the gates of time."

Sounding worried, Rei said, "So how long until we all de-transform and the entire Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department finds out who we are?"

"I don't know, and if neither of you wants to find out, I suggest we start trying to find a way to break out with as few casualties as possible."

Ami gave the two of them a disapproving look. "We are _not_ going to smash our way out, and that's final. Our identities are not worth killing people over."

At first Ami was shocked to hear Setsuna suggest such a rash, half-baked plan, but after the momentary surprise was over and silence once again ruled their group, her mind started to wander. Wander to things Makoto had told her they had heard from Setsuna while Ami had been in the Sekkou's dimension.

Memories she wished she could forget came back powerfully, if only for an instant, as the realization that Setsuna was the one who had essentially set her up came crashing into her mind. How could someone who was supposed to be on her side be more rash than that?

As realization finally dawned on her, Ami found herself looking at her hands. She opened and closed them a few times, turned them to look at the other side, almost like an infant noticing them for the first time. She shook them a bit, as if she were trying to get something slimy off.

"I feel . . . dirty. . . I almost killed someone today. I _wanted _to kill her, with every fiber in my being. Though when I think about it, I realize that she is not the one responsible for what I went through. She merely did what I would have done in her shoes. Just the work of the devil, not the devil herself. No more, no less."

Squeezing her hands into a fist, she continued. "I feel dirty, not because I tried to kill someone, but because I went after the wrong person." Then, with a look in her eyes that secretly scared Rei, Ami started to stand up. Rei grabbed her shoulders and pushed her gently but firmly back down.

Once Ami was sitting again, Rei gave her a gentle shake and said, "Come on Ami, snap out of it. Don't you realize who you sound like?"

Ami growled, "I'm not going to become a monster, and I'm not going to let you risk harming anyone for our personal gain ever again." Then, just like that, Ami broke, letting the last of the pain that remained deep within her slip out. She turned on her side and covered her face with her hands as she curled up on the bed behind Rei. She didn't make any sound after that, and neither of them could see her face, but the way she shook told Rei and Setsuna she was crying.

Setsuna shook her head sadly as she listened, then said, "I'm sorry, Ami. I know it's not enough, but it's all I can say. For what it's worth, I'm truly sorry."

Rei pulled the blanket over Ami, then walked over to Setsuna. Under her breath, she mumbled, "Proud of your handiwork?" When Setsuna didn't reply, Rei hissed, "Then let this be a reminder to you that some things just aren't worth it, no matter how damned important you think they are."

* * *

Hana left Makoto out in the lobby as she went in to talk to the chief of police. This was mostly because, for the entire drive here, Makoto had gone on and on about how she felt it was her fault Ami and the other two were in jail and how she was going to tear that place apart to get her out. This wasn't a conversation that could be won with threats and shouts.

Kaji Nakamora was a big man, standing several inches taller than even Makoto. He was the kind of man that demanded respect from everyone around him. He was also the man you wanted on your side when things went wrong.

Kaji sat back in his chair with an exhausted sigh. Then, he put his hands on his desk and said, "Do you realize what you are asking me to do? I can't believe I'm hearing this from you of all people, Hana."

"Kaji, you and I have been friends for a long time. You know I wouldn't tell you how to do your job anymore than you would tell me how to do mine. I am simply requesting that you . . . look the other way in this case. I'm sorry I can't tell you more, but this isn't as simple as it looks."

Rubbing his forehead in frustration, he said, "I know you don't want to hear this, Hana, but if it were up to me, I'd have those three dragged into the street and shot. Honestly, Hana, you really don't know how much of a nuisance these Senshi have been to our department since they first appeared. I want to just lock them up and throw away the key."

Hana was about to say something to him, when he held up his hand and started pulling out forms from his desk. "However, it is not up to me. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Several people in the government who wish to remain anonymous feel that the Senshi are more of a help than they are hindrance, thus, I am being told once again to cover them up, despite numerous witnesses, unexplainable destruction to a busy street, and reporters calling me every hour on the hour for comment. I suppose we will roll out the tired burst steam pipe story again."

Hana smiled as he handed her the forms. "Thank you, Kaji. You have no idea how much this means to me."

"Don't thank me just yet. I know we go way back, but I'm only doing this because people above me want it done. I'm going to let 'em out since you being here is a good cover story should anything leak to the press. However, _you_ have to post their . . . shall we say . . .somewhat classified bail. Essentially this 'bail money' is going to be used to bribe judges to make this all 'legal'. Knowing all of that, you sure you want to do this?"

Hana nodded slowly. Then she pulled out her check book and started filling it out.

Kaji added, "Meanwhile, you get the fun responsibility of keeping them under control and out of sight for a while, and I get to explain why they don't have fingerprints, their faces don't appear clearly on film, and why none of my people can give me a description of them. I don't suppose you have an explanation for all of that, do you?"

Hana shrugged. "You've got me on that one, chief. I don't know them. I'm just doing this for a patient of mine who swears they saved her life."

Kaji glared at her and said, "Come on, I've known you longer than that."

When Hana said nothing, he shrugged and said simply, "It's your lie, Hana, you can tell it however you want. Just keep 'em quiet, because next time I don't think I'm going to be able to keep the district attorney off of them should they wind up back in my cell block, puppet judges or no."

* * *

At first, the only thing she was aware of was a steady, monotonous beeping sound. It seemed to penetrate the darkness like the rhythmic beating of a drum in the distance.

It was giving her a headache.

Slowly, the world came back into focus and she was aware of other sounds. A man talked in a hushed voice to another about the coffee in the cafeteria and a question about the dosage for a medication.

Feeling started to return to her arms and legs, and it was then that she noticed the throbbing pain in her shoulder.

She tried to move, but found she couldn't. So she forced her eyes open. At first, everything was blurry, causing her to groan in irritation and discomfort.

As everything came into focus, she saw the face of the man who had been talking. He looked concerned.

He should be.

Despite being groggy and confused, she was now aware enough to realize she was strapped down. She tugged at one of the restraints with her good arm, making far more noise than she intended.

The two medical personnel watched her struggle a few moments, then one of them reached for a hypodermic needle. His companion put a hand on her shoulder and started to drone out words that were meant to calm and comfort her as they started to try to sedate her.

Dark Venus would have none of it.

* * *

Sailor Mars woke when she felt herself start to fall from her sitting position in the corner. She couldn't remember ever being this bored before. The most interesting thing she had seen since Mercury cried herself to sleep was a small gray spider that crawled across the ceiling and out the cage bars, almost as if saying, 'See? Simple as that'.

Sailor Pluto hadn't moved. How the woman could hold that still for so long, Rei wasn't sure. She was just standing there, exactly as before, staring at Ami, lost in her own thoughts.

As she watched Setsuna, she started to see something hidden in the tall woman's face. It was difficult to see, but Rei thought she could see guilt painted in her eyes. Rei hadn't thought much about it until now, but this was the first time Setsuna had spent more than a few minutes in the same room as Ami since the Sekkou had first shown up.

Perhaps that reason was because deep down, the Senshi of time actually felt guilty for what she had done? Had she been avoiding Ami?

Rei stood up and stretched her arms as she thought, 'Most importantly, have I been thinking too much?'

Without taking her eyes off Ami, Setsuna asked, "So have you thought of how you are going to deal with the two of them?"

Rei joined Setsuna in watching Ami, and said, "Well, I figured I'll just let Ami talk to Makoto about it."

Setsuna sighed and said, "Not Yoshiwara district. I mean Mina and Minako. You do not yet realize the problem you have on your hands, Rei Hino."

Rei shrugged. "I don't even know where she is, let alone what to do when I find her. She'll probably try to kill us all the moment she sees us. She's not exactly all there, Setsuna. As for Minako, I'd say I'll just continue to avoid her, but I know that's not possible. So I'll just deal with her when I get the chance."

After standing in silence again, Sailor Mars asked, "So are we really just going to sit here and wait for them to charge us and find us a lawyer?"

Before Sailor Pluto answered, there was a sound from the hallway. The guard was coming to do his rounds. Unlike all the other times Rei had seen him come along, this time he stopped and looked at the three of them for a moment, clearly hesitating.

After several tense moments, he said, "Your bail has been posted. You are free to go," then he said into a walkie talkie, "Open cell 4-B".

The sudden sound of the doors opening shook Sailor Mercury from her sleep and they made their way out of the cell, following behind the guard. Then, rather than being brought around to the front exit, the man instructed them to follow him to the back of the building. He unlocked an unmarked door and suggested they might want to stay out of trouble as they walked out into the cool night air of the alley behind the police station.

Just like that, they were free. It was rather unceremonious at best. As their eyes adjusted to the dark, they noticed they weren't alone.

Sounding rather amused, Makoto stepped out of a shadow and into the glow of a nearby street light. "The three of you have a lot of explaining to do."

Sailor Mercury walked up to Makoto and gave her as tight a hug as she could and buried her face into her shoulder. "I was worried about you. Where have you been?"

"Well . . ." Makoto squeezed Ami back for a moment, then said, "I had to pull some strings to get you out. Um . . . you'll get a better answer when we get to the car."

They walked in silence with Makoto in the lead. They didn't have far to go, but the moment Ami saw the car, she froze.

She knew this car.

"You didn't. That's not . . . is it?" She looked at Makoto, waiting for an answer. When none came, Mercury narrowed her eyes and said, "You have some explaining to do, and not just about Yoshiwara district."

Makoto was spared having to answer at the moment when Hana opened the door and ran the short distance to them. "Ami, I . . ." She stopped speaking and slid to a stop in front of them, looking at the three transformed Senshi in confusion.

Mars put her hand on her hip and said, "I don't mean to rush anyone, but it's getting late and I've had a bad day. I'd really like to go home now. So, if nothing is wrong can we get going?"

Hana looked at the three Senshi for a moment more, then said, "Oh, yes. Of course. I think we will all fit, but it might be a tight squeeze." As they walked back to the car, she glanced at Makoto. "I suppose that answers how you keep your identities a secret. Which one of you is Ami?"

Ami tilted her head, rather interested in her mother's comment. "Can you elaborate on what you mean by our manner of keeping our identities secret?"

She looked in the direction the voice came from, but wasn't entirely certain if it had been the woman wearing the red uniform or the blue one. Whichever one it was, she knew one thing. One of them was her little girl.

Dr. Mizuno said simply, "Prosopagnosia".

Rei said, with a hint of sarcasm, "Um . . . Gesundheit?"

As she opened the driver side door, Hana said, "It means, that I can't recognize your faces while you are Senshi. I can see your nose, your eyes, your mouth, but I can't place any of it to form a face because something about your Senshi forms blocks the section of my brain that allows me to recognize you. It's quite ingenious, really, and I hope you all will allow me to study it, only for my own personal knowledge of course."

As they slid in, Rei said in amusement, "Yeah, Ami can be your personal guinea pig. She's even used to cages now."

Just before Hana started to pull away from the curb, her phone started to vibrate on the dashboard. She opened it, and held it to her ear. Before she even acknowledged the person on the other end, they started talking.

"Are you sure?"

The person on the other end said a few more things, then Hana hung up, tossed the phone into the glove compartment, put the car in drive and slammed her foot on the accelerator despite the fact that they were right behind the police station.

Haruka would have been proud.

As everyone was slammed back into their seats, Ami de-transformed, then asked, "Mother, what's wrong?"

Gripping the steering wheel tight, Hana said, "Makoto told me all about your 'friend' that is in the hospital. I was planning on bringing a few of you by to help me pick her up tomorrow, but apparently she came around earlier than expected from her last surgery, and didn't like the restraints we had her in."

Sailor Mars looked at the back of Hana's head and said, "You don't mean . . ."

Running right through a red light, Hana said, "Yes. Your renegade Senshi is free in the hospital."

* * *

_**Author's note:**_

**Once again, special thanks go out to Trusuprise for helping with betaing this chapter.**


	23. Chapter 23 Just Like That

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 23: Just Like That**

The only sound Rei was aware of for the last five minutes was the sound of her own feet hitting tile flooring as she ran through the labyrinth hallways of the hospital. She was fairly sure she had been by this particular T junction three times already, but it was difficult to tell since the entire place seemed to look the same to her. For a change of pace, she turned left this time.

She wasn't the only one searching. The others who had been with her in the car were running around searching every room, and the rest of the Senshi had also gotten there to help in the effort. To make themselves as inconspicuous as possible for a group of people racing around the building, they were all untransformed. So far, they had turned up nothing. Or at least, Rei certainly hadn't.

When her communicator started beeping, Rei came to a stop and took a moment to catch her breath before answering it. Minako's voice sounded tiny over the speaker, yet Rei could still hear annoyance in the woman's voice. "Any luck, Rei?"

Rei shook her head. "No, nothing. It's been half an hour now since we split up to look for her and none of us have seen her. Maybe she's already made her getaway?"

She wasn't sure, but Rei got the distinct impression Minako was glaring at her on the screen. "You mean like last time?" Minako narrowed her eyes and said, "Rei, do _not_ let her get away. I don't know what your feelings for her are, and quite frankly I don't care because you need t --"

"Good!" Rei growled as she interrupted her leader. "Because it isn't any of your business. Look, Minako, you don't have to worry. At the end of the day, she's still the enemy regardless of how I feel. I'll pound her into the ground if that's what it takes to prove to you we are still on the same side, all right?"

"That's not the point." Minako sighed, then said, "Rei, she's not a substitute for me. You have to get over me because we need to be able to --"

Rei tapped the screen on her communicator and said, "Don't flatter yourself! Why don't you try getting over yourself first! You just need to --"

This time the screen divided in half and Ami's face appeared. "If she's in the basement levels, she's able to hide from my visor. I'm beginning to think Rei may be right. I don't think she's here."

Minako said, "She's here, I know it."

Another line appeared, dividing the image so that a narrow box formed across the bottom as Makoto's face flashed onto the screen. She said, "What makes you so sure, Minako-chan?"

Minako said sagely, "Great minds think about eggs."

A perplexed expression crossed Ami's face. "I beg your pardon?"

Minako's image on the screen looked into Rei's eyes for a moment before saying, "We have something she wants. She's not going to go anywhere until she gets it."

Rei rolled her eyes at that. "Oh, please Minako! You're making me sound like a piece of meat."

The blonde said, "Oh, come on Rei, she let you go last time. It's clear she at least likes you."

This time, Rei narrowed her eyes. "I never said she let me go."

Minako replied, "Oh, just you try denying it to us."

Makoto yelled in a mixture of anger and surprise, "Guys, knock it off! Let's just agree we're on the same side for now and leave it at that, all right? We shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves. We gotta find Dark Venus. Lets focus on that for now, all right? Now, where haven't we looked?"

Now the screen split again, this time forming four even boxes as Haruka's irritated voice said, "Yeah, and by the way, we can all hear the two of you bickering. So knock it off before I find you both and knock you out."

Rei said partially to herself, "Great. Just great."

Ami ignored the conversation going on and looked at something off the screen as an idea formed in her head. Then she said, "Minako, if you were playing a game of hide and seek with us, where would you hide?"

Minako smiled and said, "Well, that depends. Is the food free in the cafeteria? Because I could really go for --"

Rei shook the communicator with both hands and yelled, "She's _serious,_ Minako!"

There was a long pause as Minako gave it serious thought. Finally she said, "Well, if I were in her shoes, first I'd --"

Ami pulled her cell phone from her pocket and interrupted Minako, saying, "I am sorry, Minako. I think mom is checking in. Let's see if she has had better luck than we have."

She put the phone to her ear, then her eyes went wide in shock and fear. Rather than say anything, she held her communicator up so that the others could hear.

The voice on the other side of Ami's phone said calmly, "Can everyone hear me? Good. Now listen to me very carefully."

* * *

After she finished talking, Dark Venus dropped Hana's cell phone on the ground and crushed it with her foot. Then she twisted Hana's right arm behind her back and resumed pushing the other woman up the stairs.

Hana made a half-hearted attempt to struggle free, but yelled in pain when Mina twisted her arm just a bit more.

Mina shook Hana roughly by the arm, and hissed, "I said not to try to get free. Do you Mizunos enjoy pain or something?"

Hana stumbled up to the next landing and said, "No, I just don't want to wind up like those two nurses that had been trying to help you." Mina had broken both of the man's arms upon getting free, and after meeting the Sekkou in person only a few minutes ago, Hana got the distinct impression he was lucky to walk away with just those injuries. The other man would be in intensive care for at least a week from the beating he had received. They were both lucky to be alive at all.

Trying unsuccessfully to keep the sarcasm out of her voice, Hana added, "You'll have to be patient with me. First time as a hostage and all, you know."

When the Sekkou was on the step below the landing Hana had just stepped up to, Hana screamed and put all her weight behind her in an attempt to push them both back down the stairs. Dark Venus yelled in anger as she started to lose her balance, but rather than fall, she lifted herself into the air a few feet, twisting Hana's arm into an awkward and painful position.

Hana gritted her teeth and tried not to give her captor the satisfaction of hearing her scream in pain again. It seemed to pay off, if only for a second. Mina shoved Dr. Mizuno in anger, causing her to take several steps forward from the momentum. Free of the Sekkou's grip, Hana turned and did her best to strike a fighting stance, ready to defend herself. She had managed to keep calm so far, but just beneath that calm was a sea of emotional terror. She had no idea what would happen to her once they reached the roof.

She had never had to fight for her life before.

Mina stood on the landing a moment and watched Hana as the doctor started to walk backward up the stairs, ready to take her on even though the odds were clearly against her. Then, Hana turned on her heels, and ran up the stairs for the door to the next floor as fast as she could.

Dark Venus gave her another three seconds just for the fun of it before materializing her whip, sending it flying through the air to wrap around Hana's feet, followed by a vicious tug that sent Hana crashing to the stairs. To stop Hana's slide back down the stairs, Dark Venus jammed her heel into the center of Hana's back. Not because she was trying to be mean, but because she could only use one arm, so her foot would have to do.

Even in Sekkou form, her other arm was in a sling and strapped to her chest to keep it stable. Healing powers or no, a bullet wound would take time to heal even for a Senshi or Sekkou.

Once she was sure Hana wasn't going to keep sliding, she released her feet from her whip, then stepped back and growled, "Get up. And if you want any hope of surviving the night, you won't put up any more of a fight."

As Hana started to stand, Mina added, "You and your daughter are so much alike, you know that? For people who are so intelligent, you really need a hard blow to the head to get it through your thick skulls that you are not in control of your lives."

Despite her fear, a small smile came to Hana's lips. This creature had had to deal with her daughter before, and her child didn't back down without a fight, and neather could she. Something about that thought gave her a shred of hope about the situation. Hana turned around and started walking the direction the Sekkou guided her in without a fight.

When they reached the top of the stairs, Hana looked over her shoulder and said, "No matter what happens to me, you won't get away with this."

If Mina could use both her hands, she would have pressed Hana's face against the door just to work off some frustration. Instead, she grunted, "Just shut up and open the door while I decide whether or not you are going to survive the night."

* * *

As the Senshi ran up another stairwell on the opposite side of the building leading to the roof, Hotaru found herself stopping to catch her breath. She groaned in frustration as her parents passed her with seemingly little effort, then said, "Stairs. Why stairs? Why does it always have to be stairs?"

Ami stopped and said, "Because Tokyo is a major city, thus if you wish to build just about anything, the only direction one can build is up." She took a moment to stretch her arms and added, "Plus, elevators do not always reach the roof in public buildings, so the only way is up the stairs." Then she continued running after the other three outer planetary Senshi.

Breathing even harder than Hotaru, Usagi took the moment to stop as well. After gasping for air, she said, "I don't understand why they insist on it. It just makes us that much more determined to beat them up for making us do extra work."

The rest of the guardian Senshi stopped, but rather than wait for them to start running again, Makoto picked up Hotaru and started running with her in her arms. Rei and Minako grabbed Usagi's arms and started yanking her up the stairs as Rei grumbled, "Come on, you idiot! We're almost there anyway!"

Despite carrying Hotaru, Makoto still caught up with Ami. As she ran alongside her, she asked, "Do you think she'll keep her word? I mean, I hate to be pessimistic here, Ami, but . . ." Makoto let her voice trail off. She didn't want to finish her sentence.

Ami shook her head as she continued to run. "I am more than certain she will keep her promise for two reasons. First, Minako isn't a liar. While Mina is a twisted version of Minako, at her heart, she's still Minako. Second, I have something she wants too badly."

Makoto nodded and said, "You mean Rei?"

Ami shook her head and said, "No. I have something she may be interested in even more. A working pendant that would allow her to get home."

Makoto stopped in surprise for a heartbeat, then hurried to catch up with Ami. "You mean you brought that thing with you? What if it goes off in your pocket or somethin' while you're runnin' around?"

"Of course not. But she does not know that, and it gives her an incentive to cooperate until she gets it, as well as gives us a small amount of control over her in the meantime."

Before Makoto could ask any more questions, they came to a stop at the top of the stairs. They waited in silence as Haruka climbed a maintenance ladder and started prying at the lock to the hatch with one of Michiru's hair clips. One of the conditions Mina had set with them over the phone for her allowing them to catch up was that they were to show up in 'civilian form'.

The moment she heard the lock click loose, Ami pushed past the others and started climbing up the steel ladder. She didn't want the others to know, but she was nervous. The Sekkou had proven to be rather unpredictable, and despite her previous statement to Makoto, she wanted to know for certain that her mother was all right.

When she reached the top, Haruka held out her hand and helped pull Ami up through the hatch, then did the same for the others. Ami looked around, but didn't see anyone. That was almost worse than finding out the Sekkou had lied and just killed her mother just to spite them. She wanted desperately to transform into Sailor Mercury so she could use her visor to scan the area, but she knew if there was any chance left, it would ruin it.

The others started to move away from the opening, searching the roof for any sign of their adversary or her captive. After a few minutes, Ami said quietly to herself, "Where are they?"

Makoto had stayed close by her, and put a hand on her shoulder, trying to be supportive. She knew what Ami was thinking, because she felt it was the same thing she was thinking. Perhaps Mina had used this as a way to get them all to the top of the building while she ran out the front door. In which case, it was up to the divine spirits to protect Hana at that point.

She squeezed Ami's shoulder gently and said, "Maybe they just aren't here yet? Mina is injured, after all."

Just then, they heard Mina swear angrily to herself a second before another woman screamed in terror from _above _them. Everyone looked up to see Dark Venus hovering in the air about 15 feet above their heads, right as she started losing her grip on Hana as she struggled to get free.

Hana slammed into the tarred roof the instant she slipped from Mina's fingers.

Ami was at her side before Dark Venus could react, and the other Senshi transformed, ready to take down the lone Sekkou if she didn't surrender.

Aside from Ami fussing over her mother for several minutes, no one moved a muscle.

Sailor Uranus yelled out, "So, are you going to come down and behave for once, or should we grease you now?"

Dark Uranus laughed, then winced as she rubbed her injured shoulder for a moment. Then she said, "Oh, I think I'll take my chances up here, thank you very much."

She was just about to dart away into the night, when Rei called out, "Where will you go if you don't come with us?"

"I'm sure I can think of . . . what's it to you, anyway?"

Sailor Moon called out to her, saying, "We're concerned about you. Not only are you . . . rather dangerous, but you're injured. We can help you, and all we ask is that you not kill us all for doing it. Come down and we can talk." As a symbol of good faith, Usagi de-transformed as she finished the last part.

Mina hesitated. Part of her was screaming for her to run, but something in her made her stay where she was. Slowly, she turned her confused gaze toward Sailor Mars. She asked almost nervously, "What kind of help can you give me?"

Realizing that something Usagi had said had somehow reached past the darkness that cloaked Mina's soul, Rei, Makoto, Hotaru, and Setsuna followed Usagi's lead and de-transformed.

Ami was just about to suggest to Mina that they could have her home in moments, but Makoto walked over to her, quietly pressed a finger to her lips, and pointed at who Mina was staring at.

Rei suddenly realized Mina was waiting for _her _to answer. She gulped and fidgeted, suddenly unsure what to say. Unable to come up with anything better, she said, "Just the basics, honestly. Help with your wound, food, and shelter until we can get you where you belong. That is . . . if you want to go back at all."

Mina moved down a few feet, then shook her head and darted back up just a little higher than she had been. "You're trying to trick me."

At the edge of her vision, Rei saw Setsuna nod ever so slightly. With that simple movement, Rei finally understood that this moment, not the day's previous events, had been what Setsuna had been trying to carefully set up. She held out her hand to the woman and said, "No, Mina, no tricks. Just come down, and we can go home and call it a night. It's as simple as that."

Mina bit her lip as she fought to control an emotion she hadn't felt in a long time. That of simple gratitude. She realized in the depths of her soul that, as pathetic as it was, what Rei had said to her had been the kindest words anyone had said to her for half her life.

Gazing longingly at Rei, she whispered to herself, "Just like that?"

Despite the fact that Rei couldn't hear her, she nodded her head slowly and said, just as quietly, "Just like that. Come with me."

Mina started to descend toward Rei, like a reluctant pet returning home.

Then, she started to feel the darkness claim her soul again. A voice inside her head that wasn't entirely her own screamed, '_No! They'll only use you like everyone else does! Don't trust them! Flee! Run!'_

Mina's expression changed to one of pure rage. She screamed, "LIAR!"

Rei ran forward and yelled, "No! Don't go!"

But it was too late. Mina spun in the air and started to move away quickly.

Unfortunately for her, there were three Senshi on the ground who did not feel Usagi's actions were appropriate.

A bright ball of energy followed up by a powerful wave of water slammed into Dark Venus just before she reached the building's edge.

She cried out again, this time in pain. Unable to hold herself in the air from the impact, she crashed to the roof with a grunt of pain, and she didn't stop there. Her momentum caused her to roll off the side of the building, shrieking in fear once she realized she was too weak to fly.

Minako ran to the edge of the building and stopped just inches from the edge, then yelled, _**"VENUS LOVE ME CHAIN!"**_

The ray of light wrapped around Mina's left leg as Minako gave her chain a tough jerk, causing her opponent to slam into the side of the building with an audible crunching sound. Then she hung there motionless, just swaying gently in the breeze.

With the help of Sailor Uranus and Neptune, Minako started to haul up her prize like a victorious spider.

Once the woman was back on the roof, Hana walked over and felt for a pulse.

Rei asked nervously, "Is she all right?"

"Yes, unconscious, but otherwise unharmed, save her wound to her shoulder and a possibly mild concussion. She's lucky to walk away with just that. She needs rest." Hana couldn't bring herself to look at Rei as she said, "Unless you intend to dispose of her. In which case, I'd recommend pushing her over the side and being done with it. The fall should kill even her instantaneously since she isn't able to control her landing. In her current condition, she wouldn't feel a thing."

Rei stepped forward and pushed Hana away from her. "How can you suggest something . . . so . . . so . . . barbaric?"

Minako stepped in between the two of them and answered for Hana. "Because that thing lying on the ground over there is nothing more than a sick, perverted, insane monster, and it's going to take a lot more than a psychiatrist and some happy pills to make her better. Besides, Dr. Mizuno is right. If she insists on attacking us, we are going to wind up eventually tearing her body apart with our powers. And that's assuming she doesn't do that to us first."

Haruka stepped forward and said, "I can do it. Be a lot simpler this way. Besides, it'll give us the advantage for once the next time they show up to try to rip our heads off." She touched her foot to Mina's side, just waiting for any one of them to give her the word.

"No," Rei hissed, then pointed at Minako and said, "You want her dead so badly? Then y_ou _do it."

Minako glared at Rei, then said, "All right, fine. As you wish. Step aside, Uranus."

Haruka said cautiously, "Look, Minako-chan, it would be a lot easier if I ju --"

"I said step aside."

Sailor Uranus stepped back and said dryly, "Be my guest."

Minako put her foot on Mina's side, then looked at the woman's face for a moment. She looked like she was asleep. Despite her face being exactly like her own, Minako whispered, "You're nothing more than just another monster anyway."

The instant she was about to kick her off the side, Usagi ran up and pulled Sailor Venus back. She cried out, "No! I won't let you all become murderers!"

Minako started to protest, but Usagi said, "She's still human, Minako-chan. If it were up to her she'd be living a perfectly normal life. Just like the rest of us would be doing if it were up to any of us. If anything it's up to us to at least try to save her. Wouldn't you want someone to do the same thing for you if you were in her shoes?"

Michiru walked up beside her lover, then regarded Mina for a moment as if she were some kind of strange work of art before asking the obvious. "What do we do with her?"

All too quickly, Rei said, "I have room at my place, and Grandpa has no problems with taking in people in need. I can take care of her."

Sailor Venus grumbled, "Like hell you will. You just want to sleep with --"

Sensing another fight about to begin between the two friends, Hotaru stepped between them and looked into Minako's eyes. In a calm yet concerned voice, she asked the question that had been on her mind all night. "What is wrong with you, Minako-chan? This isn't like you at all."

Rather than answer her, Sailor Venus huffed in frustration with all of them, turned around and walked away, lost in her own thoughts.

Rei started to go after her, but a hand landed on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. Setsuna said quietly, "No, let her go. She has a few things to think about right now, and you currently have other responsibilities you must attend to."

Hana nodded her head in agreement. "We've all had a rough day. I think now would be a good time to call it a night. We can deal with the consequences in the morning."

Rei watched Minako until she climbed back down the opening, then slowly nodded her head before turning her attention to lifting Mina with more than a little help from Makoto.

One by one, they made their way down from the top of the building in silence.

It was time to go home.


	24. Chapter 24 Reprimand

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 24: Reprimand**

Mina groaned as consciousness slowly returned to her. The moment she opened her eyes, she knew right where she was. She was on a bed roll in Ray's room at the shrine. As she became more awake, she shook her head to clear her brain of confusion.

"No. Not Ray's room. Rei's room. The shrine was demolished a decade ago." She corrected herself out loud in an attempt to help reorient herself.

It looked almost exactly how she remembered her friend's room looking back when they were kids, except it was a little less cluttered. She also noticed a tray next to her with breakfast on it. Apparently it must have been placed there quite some time ago, because the food was cool to the touch.

She sat up and continued to take in her surroundings. No restraints holding her down. No one was waiting eagerly to beat answers out of her or call her a fool or otherwise demonize her. It was the last thing she expected. They had left no one to guard her in any way.

It was almost insulting.

Next to the food was a small piece of paper folded in half. She sat cross-legged as she picked it up and started to read.

Mina,

If you happen to wake up, please take a moment to enjoy your meal. So far, aside from mumbling in your sleep, you haven't done much. This is disappointing because we are currently short-handed. Your wounds are healing well though, so you should be up to more tasks soon.

Here is your cover story, that is of course assuming you don't decide to just up and run away. You are Minako's twin who has returned from Europe because you were badly injured in a car accident and needed to return home. You are staying here because there isn't enough room at your 'sister's' home, and you aren't on good terms with your parents.

Your name is Aino Mineko and you are currently unemployed and thus, broke. Grandpa has stated that you are more than welcome to work at the shrine until you get on your feet, and even then he has stated that "the lovely blonde is more than welcome to stay because another beautiful Miko will bring more patrons to our humble shrine". In short, he has the hots for you. So try to stay out of arm's reach of him and for the divine spirit's sake, don't encourage him!

I hope you will be staying with us as well. It really would be better for all of us. Besides, I could use some help with the chores. If you are ready to work, go ahead and borrow one of my Kimono to wear your first day and come find me. I'm your boss.

Be afraid.

Rei

She placed the paper next to the cold food, then tossed the blanket aside and stood up. Her muscles felt stiff, and as she started to walk toward the closet, she found it somewhat difficult to keep her balance.

After only taking a few steps, she tripped over her own feet and found her face colliding with a wall.

"Son of a--" she said as she stepped back, rubbing her nose.

Then she found herself tripping again, this time over the food tray Rei had kindly left out for her. This sent the tray sliding across the room to crash against the wall, and her smacking the back of her skull on the wooden floor.

She lay there a moment in stunned silence, her mouth wide open and eyes clenched shut as if screaming, but not making a sound. She rolled onto her side, holding her head with both hands, and she slowly started to curl up into a ball.

"Are you all right?"

A groan was about all Mina could manage. She didn't know when Rei had come in, and at the moment she didn't care. All she wanted was to be off the floor and for the pain to stop. It was only when Rei helped her up to a sitting position and wrapped a blanket around her that she realized her state of dress. Or rather, lack thereof. Aside from her sling, she wore absolutely nothing underneath the blanket.

As soon as her head stopped throbbing enough for her to put to into words what she was thinking, she said, "Why in the hell am I nekkid, and where in the hell are my clothes?"

Rei shrugged. "It was easier for me to clean your wound as Mizuno Sensei instructed if I removed your shirt." When Mina gave Rei a blank stare, she added, "I didn't violate you or anything, if that's what you're worried about. It was just a simple sponge bath."

Just then, they heard Rei's grandfather as he came around the door frame. "Oh, Rei, there you are. I was just . . . looking . . . for . . . you."

His eyes went wide as he looked at 'Mineko' covered only in a blanket wrapped around her. Blond hair elegantly flowing over her shoulders, inviting beautiful blue eyes, the pale smooth skin of her shoulder, . . .

As his brain continued to slow, he pointed at Rei, then to himself, then over his shoulder. Then with a huge smile on his face, he hobbled off.

Rei shook her head and said, "I've also kept him away. Believe me, that hasn't been an easy task. I haven't accomplished anything this morning because of him trying to sneak a peak. So mostly because of _him, _I'll need your help to catch up with what needs to be done for the day." Then she got up and headed over to the closet to get Mina a Miko outfit to wear.

Mina watched Rei's back as the other woman rummaged through the closet for a few moments, then said, "So, did you happen to sneak a peak too, Rei? I mean, ya know, while you were giving me a sponge bath and all. I'd have loved to have been awake during --"

She stopped talking when the kimono Rei had retrieved for her suddenly shot across the room and smacked her in the face, followed by Rei grumbling at her to get moving.

The last time Ami was summoned to Principal Takahashi's office, it had been for a minor complaint from one of her students' parents. It had ended well, with her actually being praised.

This time, Ami was told to come here even though it interrupted her last class. She was made to stand in the hallway and wait while the principal, vice principal, several members of the school board, and several teachers argued over the fate of her career. After a while, she heard what she thought was someone throwing something against the wall followed by more muted yelling from behind the closed door.

She had the distinct impression that this wasn't going to end as well as last time.

As Ami stood quietly, she came to the conclusion that the waiting was the worst part. It gave one far too much time to think.

This morning on her way in, she was able to see a huge tarp covering where she had blown the side of the school open during her fight with the Sekkou, and passed several construction workers busily getting their tools out as she walked past the room. As if that wasn't enough, she received several glances from some of the teachers and students on her way to her first class, which told her word had already gone around that she was in some kind of trouble.

Throughout the day, she overheard hushed whispers from several students debating different things they had heard from different teachers. None of what she heard was particularly reassuring.

The teachers who respected her gave her vague words of encouragement and sympathy. It did little to help her, though. By the same token, several teachers who didn't like her for one reason or another either shot her a smug grin, or pretended not to notice her. One teacher outright insulted her when she thought Ami couldn't hear her.

When Ami cleared her throat to get the other teacher's attention, the woman made no attempt to apologize for calling her a dyke, nor any of the other crude comments she had made. In fact, she went a step further and said, "Well, it's true, isn't it?"

Ami sighed at her own thoughts about the day. All of it pointed toward one thing in her mind.

It was all over.

Well, except the shouting anyway. The dull roar in the next room was enough to remind her of that. It was just a question of whether or not she was going to have her license stripped away from her at this point. She just wished they would call her in and get it over with.

Rei, her grandfather, and Mina were all cleaning up after a wedding that had just finished up. Despite Mina still only being able to use one hand, she was proving to be useful in speeding up the process . . . unlike Rei's grandfather.

Rei's grandfather asked in his usual cheerful way, "Mineko dear, could you hand me that box over there, please? I'm such an old man, you see, so it would be safer for you to lift it." As Mina bent over to pick up the box, Rei's grandfather's eyes opened just a little more as he tried to peer down the front of her kimono.

Just when he was starting to think he could see something, Rei grabbed one of his ears between two of her fingers. Ignoring his scream of pain, Rei said, "Will you knock it off?" Then, pointing at Mina, she yelled, "And you! I told you not to encourage him! What are you trying to do anyway? Give him a heart attack?"

Mina walked over, being sure to sway her hips in an exaggerated way, as she said, "Oh, Rei-chan, you are so mean to your poor old grandfather." She knelt down behind him and pulled Rei's fingers off his ear. Then, much to Rei's annoyance, she gently caressed his ear while cooing softly to him. For added measure, she started rubbing his shoulders.

Pretending she wasn't doing anything to him in any way, Mina said sympathetically, "Poor old man. You must never get time to relax with that nagging granddaughter of yours screaming at you all the time."

Rei's grandfather nodded in agreement, then let out a loud sigh as a happy smile crossed over his face.

Rei threw her broom down on the ground, pointed at her grandfather, and said, "That's it. You. Out. Now."

"But I--"

"No, now."

"What about--"

"Get going."

"I just need to finish--"

"I can get it."

Rei's grandfather sighed as his shoulders slumped in resignation. As he walked out, Rei heard him grumbling something about hot blonds and dying without ever having any 'fun' ever again.

Rei glared at Mina, then said angrily, "You need to quit distracting him so we can finish work."

"Oh, it's just for fun. I've only been here such a short time already, and I feel like we are the temple's slaves or something the way you yell at us all the time," Mina said. Then she smiled and added, "Aw, poor Rei. Are we just a little jealous? You know. I could be your _personal _slave, Rei. Maybe that'd cheer you up a little."

Rei completely ignored her comments as she walked out of the room herself. Over her shoulder, she said, "When you're done in here, you can come out to the charm booth and help me reorganize it. The junior high school lets out soon, so we will need to have it in order in about thirty minutes."

After the door slammed shut, Mina laughed to herself, then said, "This is going to be easier than I thought." She looked at the closed door as if she could still see Rei walking down the path.

"Hino Rei, you will be _mine_."

Makoto looked at her watch for the tenth time, then got out of the car, thinking that perhaps some fresh air would help with her uneasiness. Ami was supposed to have been out fifteen minutes ago. So far today, she hadn't heard a word from her, and until now she had taken that to mean that Ami's superiors had decided somehow to miraculously overlook the previous morning. Unfortunately, the waiting meant the exact opposite.

Makoto hated to wait.

As Makoto started walking circles around the car, Minako got out and sat on the hood, while Usagi rolled down the back window and leaned out. They had both decided to come along with Makoto when she came to pick up Ami to give their support to their friends.

Minako drummed her fingers on the hood for a moment, then asked Makoto as she passed by the second time, "So, how much trouble do you think she will be in?"

Makoto answered, "Ami said this morning on the way here that she'll be lucky if they only fire her."

"They're not going to put her in jail again are they?" Usagi asked, suddenly panicked.

Makoto said, "No, but they may make it so she will never teach again." She stopped pacing and looked at the door for a moment before saying, "Somehow, I think that'd be worse for her than a little more time in jail."

As far as Ami could tell, the last of the students had left twenty minutes ago. That meant that Makoto was probably waiting out in the parking lot, wondering where the devil she was.

Ami was still waiting, and she had finally given up on standing. Instead, she had commandeered a chair from a nearby conference room to sit in. Both to help calm her nerves and pass the time, she had started grading papers from class three. It was a bit awkward since she only had a paper back book resting on her knees as a surface to work with, but it would be enough.

Without warning, the door opened and people started leaving. A few of the school board members glanced at her, and some of the teachers nodded as they passed by. None of them said a word as they left.

Principal Takahashi stepped out into the hall, and said, "You may come in now, Sensei Mizuno. A decision has been made, and I wish to discuss it with you."

He sat at his usual place behind his desk, and read a few of the notes he had taken during the meeting before speaking. Ami noticed only one other person who had stayed in the room. Assistant Principal Nakamura, the same man who had griped at her the day before, stood quietly beside Mr. Takahashi. He glared at her, but didn't say anything.

It was as if he had stayed behind just to watch the show.

Principal Takahashi glanced at her and said, "Have a seat, Sensei. This will only take a moment."

Ami straightened her posture just a little more at his words, saying, "I prefer to stand, sir." She had decided she would face the news with as much honor as she could.

He sighed, then said, "As you wish." As Mr. Takahashi continued to read, he asked absently, "How's your side, Sensei?"

"My side, sir?" Ami blinked in confusion. What was he talking about? Was this some kind of trick question? ". . . It is . . . fine, sir."

"Good to hear."

As if he couldn't stand the wait any more, Nakamura's asked coolly, "We assume you know why you are here, Sensei?"

Ami bowed politely as she said, "Yes sir." She noticed her knees shaking just a bit as she straightened back up and hoped it wasn't noticeable to either of the two men before her.

The Assistant Principal narrowed his eyes as he glared at her. "Then say something in your defense, you poor disgrace for a--"

Principal Nakamura interrupted him after raising his eyebrows slightly while still reading, saying, "You may leave now, Yukichi. Your presence here is no longer required."

"But sir, I--"

This time, the principal slammed his notes on the desk and yelled, "I said, _get out_!"

Without another word, he headed for the door. He stopped when Mr. Takahashi said, "Oh, and Nakamura, one more thing. If you ever go over my head like this again, I promise you, I'll forget we are professional men in a well established school. Do you understand me? And close the door. There's no reason for this conversation between myself and Ami to concern anyone else."

Ami squeaked in alarm when the door behind her was slammed shut with a bang that rivaled a gunshot. She closed her eyes for a moment and composed herself mentally. After all, she knew that what was coming would be far worse.

The principal sat back in his chair and regarded her for a moment. Then he said, "I'm not going to ask you what happened, because we already know. According to your students, two Senshi showed up in your classroom, and you had your students evacuate the room unescorted, because you decided it was best to stay behind and try to reason with them."

He rubbed his forehead a moment, then said, "After that, well . . . Sensei, I'm sorry we have to have this discussion, but the school board, myself, and A.P. Nakamura do not take kindly to one of our classrooms being destroyed. I just need to know one thing from you before we finish our business here, Mizuno Sensei. Why on God's green earth did you decide to try to reason with people who can take down a skyscraper in ten minutes with time to spare?"

Without hesitation, Ami answered the only way she knew how. With the truth. "For the safety of the children, sir. These Senshi were obviously there for a reason. I felt to leave with my students without giving them whatever it was they wanted would only result in a high casualty rate. I know that the procedures for an emergency situation specifically state that I'm to stay with the students, but in this case I did not feel that was the best choice of action."

He got out of his chair and stood in front of her, regarding her curiously for a moment. Then he said, "I see. And were you able to find out whatever it was they were after?"

"No, sir. I was not."

He nodded thoughtfully, then said, "I see. So, when the shooting started, you made a run for it. The students that saw that part said that two Senshi were chasing another, but I believe that what they were really seeing was them chasing after you."

He laughed, then said, "After all, the only way they could have been chasing another Senshi, would be that you _are _a Senshi, since according to every single eyewitness, you were the only other person in there with them. And of course, that idea is pure fantasy, isn't it, Sensei?"

Ami laughed nervously and said, "Of course it is, sir. That would be silly. I'm a professional teacher, not a super heroine."

He nodded his head absently then asked, "Why didn't you check in with us once you got away from them, Sensei?"

It was the question Ami had been the most worried about. She still had yet to come up with an answer that she felt would satisfy him.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before answering. "I have no excuse sir."

He picked up one of his sheets of notes, and reread it to make certain that he had all the facts straight, then said, "According to your emergency contact, you were in the hospital about an hour after your classroom was attacked, being treated for a nasty gash to the side of your waist. No doubt, at the time you were being the typical woman, distraught by the rather unusual interruption to your otherwise normal day up to that point. By the time you were released, it was too late in the day for you to have possibly contacted us."

Ami suddenly felt a pang of guilt tug at her. Her emergency contact, her mother, had apparently falsified Makoto's medical records to say it was Ami who had been injured instead of Makoto. It didn't sit right with her that her mother had to lie for her, but under the circumstances, she remained quiet.

He looked at her, then added, "Now, I think that's a reasonable reaction for a woman who is just a teacher, and since your contact is a doctor and was also there at the same time you were, I'm not going to argue with it. Do you have anything you wish to add?"

Ami shook her head no.

He put his papers back on his desk, then sat back down in his chair. "Now, comes the part where I am placed in a rather difficult position, Sensei. Nakamura went above me to contact the school board, and he's asking for your head. On top of that, he seems to think that your sexuality alone demands that you should be removed from your job. As far as that goes, I personally feel that this is none of anyone's business but your own whether it is true or not. Also, Tokyo has city ordinances prohibiting job discrimination against homosexuals. However, the fact that he tossed that bone to the school board members to chew on along with what happened yesterday didn't help your cause any."

Pulling out a form from a drawer, he said, "Thus, it is regrettable that despite my personal feelings, I must inform you that the school board has ordered me to punish you severely for this incident."

He placed the form on the desk so that it was facing Ami and said, "However, they left it up to me to decide what to do with you. As such, I have come to a decision on what would be best for our fine school."

He paused as Ami picked up the paper and started reading it, then said, "For neglecting to inform us that you were injured while away from the school in a manner that might interfere with your physical abilities to do your job, I am hereby placing you on paid administrative leave for two weeks to recover from your wound. This reprimand will go in your permanent record. Sign the bottom line, please." He smiled and finished by saying, "I'm very disappointed in you, Sensei."

Ami stammered, trying to hold back tears as the pressure she had been under suddenly lifted off her. She signed the writeup sheet then stammered, "I . . . I don't know what to say, sir. I . . . Thank you?"

He just got up and started walking to the door. "You're a good teacher, Mizuno Sensei. I'm not going to fire you for doing something right no matter how many people it ticks off. You can thank me by shutting the hell up and getting out of here. After all, you were supposed to be gone 20 minutes ago. Enjoy your vacation, Ami. I look forward to seeing you back in front of a classroom in two weeks if your doctor feels you're up to it." Then he opened the door and held it for Ami as she left.

"Oh, and Sensei, one more thing."

Ami looked over her shoulder at him as he said, "I'd appreciate it if you would in the future try to keep your fights off of school property, and away from expensive cars from now on. It turns out destruction suspected of being caused directly or indirectly from Senshi are not covered by insurance companies."

Ami started to stammer out something, but he stepped back into his office and calmly closed the door, leaving her to wonder if he was kidding or not. With Mr. Takahashi's sense of humor and intelligence, it was difficult to tell. So instead of dwelling on it, she turned and quickly made her way to Makoto to tell her the 'bad news'.

Rei handed the last customer the charm he had just bought and pulled the shutter to the booth closed. Then she turned around to see if her 'assistant' was cleaning or goofing off.

Sure enough, goofing off. Mina was facing away from Rei with a mirror out, calmly brushing her hair, her broom resting in the corner, probably unused. Almost as if to further enrage Rei, Mina was humming a happy little tune to herself.

Rei grabbed a rake that had been resting at her feet, gripping it tightly with both hands in an attempt to vent some of her frustration. She said from behind clenched teeth, "What are you doing?"

Mina stopped humming and turned her mirror just a bit so she could see Rei, then said, "Just what it looks like. Prettying myself up. It doesn't look like you did a thing with my hair after undressing me, Rei." She smiled to herself and said absently, "So, what do you think? Should I sleep in bed with you, or do you want to curl up on the floor with me?"

Rei folded her arms and said, "I think you're the laziest person I have ever met."

Mina turned around and batted her eyelashes, saying, "Now that we are together, I figure we could spend some 'quality time' getting to know each other."

Rei hissed, "You speak as if we are a couple. I took you in to help and maybe enlighten you, not get laid!"

"Oh, come on, Rei. You know you want me. So why don't you, ya know, just take me already and get it over with?"

Rei smiled a bit at her own thoughts, then said, "I admit I have some feelings for you."

Then her expression darkened again. "But only god himself knows why! If you think that all love is, is for two people to treat each other like produce at the supermarket, you're going to find me a mighty expensive melon to buy! If you want us to have a relationship like _that_, you're going to have to _earn _my affection!"

To prove her point, Rei swung her rake at Mina's head, causing the blonde to finally pick up her broom -- even if it was just to block another attack from the angry Miko.

Makoto had now joined Minako in sitting on the hood of her car. She started to look at her watch again, but Minako stopped her by saying, "She'll get here when she gets here. Regardless of what she has when she gets out, she'll still have her friends and you, Mako-chan."

Makoto looked down at her feet trying to reclaim some of her usual strength. She knew she would need to be strong for Ami when she finally got out. Still, she knew she couldn't hide her true feelings from her friends. "I know, Mina-chan, it's just I'm worried about her. Her job is a huge part of her life. If Ami . . . Ami!"

Makoto looked up just in time to see Ami step out the door, breathing a sigh of relief before calmly starting to head toward them. She jumped off the hood of the car and closed the distance between them, squeezing Ami in a tight hug before she could say a word.

By the time Minako and Usagi had caught up, they heard Ami saying, "Yes, I'm serious. I'm on paid leave while I recover from your wound, and that's that. So we need to think of a way to spend the next two weeks together, because I have nothing else to do."

Usagi squeezed Makoto and Ami tightly as she yelled in excitement, "Then this calls for a celebration! We all have the evening off, so I've got a great idea. Why don't we all get together like old times, meet up at Rei's and pull an all-nighter? Makoto can cook dinner, and--"

Minako grumbled under her breath, "I don't like that plan. Have you forgotten about Rei's tag-a-long?"

Usagi shrugged and said, "The more the merrier. Besides, she's less likely to do anything if _all _of us are there anyway."

Minako was about to argue with Usagi when she realized something. As much as she hated to admit it, for once, Usagi was right. It really would be a good idea for all of them to be together, if only to keep an eye on Mina. Even if it was only temporary. It would also allow them to see how things were working with Rei watching over the Sekkou. Thus, despite her reservations and with a little more pleading from Usagi, Minako agreed, and they piled into Makoto's car.

When the four of them got to the steps of the shrine, things started out how they always did. Well, most things. As they walked up the steps, Usagi and Minako chatted about the latest celebrity gossip, Ami and Makoto walking quietly behind them holding each others' hand.

Despite the fact that they had been rather intimate together when alone, any form of public display of affection was something Ami still hadn't quite gotten used to. She would blush slightly and a small, somewhat embarrassed yet happy smile would form on her lips whenever Makoto gave her hand a gentle squeeze. Still, Ami felt it was important to somehow let Makoto know how she felt.

Ami cleared her throat to get Makoto's attention, then said, "Do you ever think about gravity?"

"Uh . . . no? Should I?"

"It's an attractive power between two objects on an atomic scale, like two baseballs on a table. They will have an incredibly minute gravitational attraction between there atoms. If you get a larger object, say, two chunks of lead, the gravitational pull will increase to a measurable amount. Then, get an object the size of a planet, and you get a significant amount of gravity, strong enough to bind two objects together."

Ami's cheeks turned a slightly darker shade of pink as she said, "Our relationship is like that. The last one, I mean."

Makoto pretended to be shocked, saying, "Ami Mizuno, are you hitting on me?" Then she giggled and said, "That has to be the most . . . cheesy pickup line I have ever heard."

Ami looked just a little disappointed in herself, then said, "I was merely attempting to openly express my feelings for you in a more public way, something couples do from time to time. If that is how you feel about my attempts at flirting then perhaps you could give me some advice later over--"

She stopped when she saw Usagi and Minako start running the rest of the way up the stairs suddenly without warning. Then they heard the yelling as the sounds of two women in a heated argument cut through the afternoon air.

When they got there, they were happy there were no patrons visiting the shrine at the moment. Rei and Mina were standing in the middle of the courtyard screaming at each other at the top of their lungs.

Rei screamed, "Oh! I see! So _I_ am the one in the wrong because actually want to get some work done! And you said you were a responsible individual. You can't even sweep a damn sidewalk!"

Mina stomped her foot and screamed back, "All I'm saying is that I find it hard to believe you don't find this work the least bit demeaning! It's for stupid people incapable of any thought of their own!"

Rei picked up on the insult immediately. She slammed her broom on the ground and grumbled, "I'll show you who's stupid!" then she ran at the Sekkou, ready to tear her apart with her bare hands.

Usagi and Minako ran forward to separate the two of them and try to restore order. Makoto and Ami hung back since they felt the two could handle this on their own. Besides, Ami's comment had gotten Makoto thinking.

Makoto said, "So uh, Ami, about the whole gravity thing."

She saw Ami scrunch up her face in irritation, but before she could say anything, Makoto said, "No, seriously. Did you mean it?" Makoto smiled as she asked, "Are you attracted to me like . . . gravity?"

Ami smiled back shyly, and said. "Of course."

Makoto shuffled her feet a moment, then said, "Well, I came up with this idea, you see. . . originally to help you out if you lost your job . . . so if you don't want to I'll understand. But uh . . . well, you see . . ." Before she could talk herself out of it, Makoto blurted out, "What would you say if I asked you to move in with me?"

Ami turned to Makoto with a serious expression on her face. "Makoto, that's a huge commitment. We would have to think about how we divide up the bills, work out personal space, adjust to each other's bad habits, learn how to time showers right so we don't use up all the hot water and leave the other to freeze."

Makoto shrunk back a bit and mumbled, "Like I said, you don't have to if--"

Ami wasn't finished. "We would have to figure out who does what chores, decide where my things are going, learn to tolerate our different approaches to decoration. As well as our differences in decision making, which will invariably lead to us trying to learn to compromise, and I am certain there are many other things I have yet to think of."

Makoto waited to make sure Ami was through talking, then replied, "Well . . . like I said. It's just an idea." She sighed in frustration, saying, "Okay, you know what, forget I said anything. Don't give it a second thought."

Ami grabbed both of Makoto's hands and said happily, "That's right. I don't have to give it a second thought. I am glad you understand. It is a rash, totally illogical, irresponsible thing to do at this point in our relationship because it is just entirely too soon."

Makoto let Ami hold her hands and did her best to hide her disappointment with Ami's opinion, watching the battle between Rei and Mina continuing despite Usagi and Minako being between the two of them. Ami's voice drew her attention away from it all quicker than a blast of cold water.

"So, naturally, if you asked me I would have no choice but to accept."


	25. Chapter 25 Personal Agendas

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 25: Personal Agendas**

Of all the places she had been in her life while being dragged around the world by her father's job, this was her favorite. Everything seemed so much simpler when she was here, and that was why she had returned here to think. She always did, whenever she could.

Iron Bridge Gorge, England. Her textbooks from her junior high class stated that this place had been the birth of the industrial revolution. A truly wonderful Victorian museum was nearby, and the famous bridge itself dated back to 1779.

However, none of these things were what captivated her about the place. Here, she could be at peace.

It was the view that drew her here, to her own special place, time and time again. She sat on a small hill, offering a view of the beautiful clean blue river, the surrounding countryside, and large trees. Everything was so simple on her secret little hill, out of the way of the rest of the world.

Here, nothing mattered. Here, she could be at peace.

Mina twirled a flower between her fingers absently as she thought about her day with Rei. In its own way, it had been much like this place. Beautiful in its simplicity. Everything from the work Rei had made her do, to being able to be herself for the first time in a good long while. It had been over a decade since she had allowed herself to actually _be _herself. Despite being grumpy, cranky Rei, the woman had helped her in ways Mina doubted the Miko would ever truly understand.

Then she laughed out loud at the thought that she wouldn't know Rei for another year. That thought brought about a small amount of confusion to her mind. It was _Ray_ that she would meet in a year. She wouldn't meet Rei for another . . .

She shrugged, happy to leave the confusion and chaos of the future be. After all, here, such things didn't matter.

She pulled away the petals on the flower one by one, smiling happily as she said, "She loves me, she loves me not. She loves me, She loves me not." She stopped a moment as her smile grew just a little bigger. Then, with almost childish glee, she laughed as she pulled the last petal from the stem before saying, "She loves me!" Then in a fit of pure unadulterated joy, she allowed herself to roll on her side down the hill, feeling the grass beneath her. She didn't worry about attracting unwanted attention from tourists, ruining the new sundress her mother had recently bought for her, or even about rolling over rocks. Such things didn't matter here, in her secret place. After all, no one could even reach her here. She was safe here.

She came to rest at the foot of her hill, looking up at the sky, and sighed happily to herself. It had been a long time since she had been here, too. It felt _good _to be here. It felt right.

The smile she wore on her face slowly faded as she heard the distant rumble of thunder, and a storm cloud slowly covered the bright, happy blue sky before her eyes. Mina sat up and went back to a path that would take her across the bridge and home. There wasn't any point in running since she knew the rain would catch up with her long before she got there.

As the sky continued to darken, she walked back to Iron Bridge, lost in thought. Her thoughts quickly turned back to Rei.

Rei had somehow managed to touch her. Not physically, but on a mental level that the young Sailor V could hardly comprehend. Not even Maiku Otanaru had truly managed to do that. This feeling she had was far more than a crush.

"Love at first sight, perhaps? I didn't think such a thing was possible." A small smile came to Mina's lips an instant before rain drops slowly started to darken the pavement she walked on.

It still wasn't raining hard, but her hair was starting to stick to her neck just the same. As if that brought her back to 'reality' somewhat, she scoffed then said, "Love at first sight? How can you love someone at first sight when you don't meet them for another . . . sixteen years? Why on earth am I thinking about this anyway?"

Here, nothing mattered. Here, she could be at peace.

Then she heard someone laughing not too far in the distance. She could tell from the laugh that it was a woman's voice, almost musical in nature. Perhaps this woman was on the bridge? Perhaps it was . . . no. It couldn't be, could it?

Mina continued to hear this stranger's laugh. A large smile spread across her face. "Rei?" Then she started running. If it was Rei, she didn't want her to leave before she got to her. They had so much they needed to discuss!

As she ran, she noticed that the closer she got to the bridge, the harder the rain fell. By the time she reached the bridge, the rain felt like needles stabbing into her skin.

The rain had become so thick that she couldn't see more than a few feet in front of her. She called out to the voice. "Rei? Is that you, Rei? I – I can't see you, Rei. . . Rei, I . . . Rei?" The voice she had heard had suddenly become quiet.

Mina looked around futilely, trying to keep the rain and her hair out of her eyes. She looked around in confusion, finally being brought back to her senses when an all-too-close thunderclap startled her.

She said to herself, "Mina, what are you doing? This is stupid. You're soaking wet. Just run on home already." As soon as she finished speaking, electricity arched across the sky, followed by another all-too-close crack of thunder, and then it stopped raining.

The blonde looked around a moment, but before she could speak, a voice said from behind her, "But you _are _home, my child."

The young girl turned around to look at the person who had just spoken to her. This newcomer most certainly wasn't Rei. She was just a little taller than Mina, had long blond hair with a red bow in it and was about sixteen years older than her. She looked beautiful, but her face had the appearance of someone who hadn't smiled in a long long time.

Mina regarded the blonde adult a moment, then asked the obvious question. "Who are you?"

The woman gave her a cool smile, then said simply, "The question isn't who am I, but rather, who are _you_?"

She paused, letting her words sink into the girl before continuing. "I am you. And yet, at the same time I am not. For I am also your worst nightmare. The thing you fear becoming most of all." She stepped forward as she said, "You fear that you are evil, and evil is what you are. I am you without a soul of your own. With no conscience or morals to speak of. I am the Sekkou known as Dark Venus, you without innocence or love. Worst of all, I am who you _are_, my little friend."

"But I don't understand. How can you be me?" When Dark Venus said nothing, Mina stepped back. She started to turn away, fully prepared to flee, but too late, she realized the other half of the bridge had disappeared along with the entire gorge leaving nothing but the surface she and this bizarre woman stood on and deep black space. She screamed out as she started to fall off what was left of the bridge, flailing her arms in panic.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion for a moment. She felt her feet slip off the edge, felt her stomach doing flip flops, and then started to see her all too short life flash before her very eyes.

Then, she felt a hand wrap around her wrist at the last possible second, causing her to stop falling. Mina looked up and smiled at this strange woman for a moment. "Oh, thank you. For a moment I thought I was--"

Dark Venus yanked Mina back up onto the remains of the bridge. As she did so, Mina heard more than felt her wrist break moments before the Sekkou tossed her to the ground before her.

She lay on the ground, writhing in agony as Dark Venus spoke. "You were close today. Close to breaking free of my control. It is strange how such a pathetic, weak emotion can free you from the spell." Then she gave the teen that same cold smile before she said, "Obviously, I can't allow that to happen, now can I? After all, where would that leave me?"

Mina started to reach for her transformation pen with her unbroken hand only to have it kicked out of her grasp in an instant by her attacker. With no other options left to her, she looked up at the woman, who now towered over her, saying, "I don't know what you're talking about or what you want, but you won't get away with it."

Dark Venus reached down, then lifted Mina off the ground by her throat as she growled, "It's simple, really. I want you to _die, _Sailor Venus. Once and for all."

She started cackling as she began to squeeze, bruising the soft, pale skin of Mina's throat in the process. Then, her voice changed slightly. It became a little deeper and just a touch more sinister sounding. At the same time, Dark Venus's skin began to blister and peel away and her hair became as red as blood.

Feeling more fear by what she saw before her than even the feeling of being suffocated held, Mina started to kick and squirm. She would have screamed, but with the iron grip around her throat she couldn't make a sound. A strong gust of wind tore at the two of them, seeming to rip the rest of Dark Venus's skin from her body.

Beryl's smile was sinister as she tightened her grip around Mina's throat, now using both hands. With an almost inhuman roar, Beryl screamed, "Now you _**die**_!" Without any sign of remorse, she tossed Mina off the side of the bridge, and watched the helpless child scream in terror as she did so.

Mina gasped then sat up from her bedroll beside Rei's and clutched her chest for a moment, feeling her heart beating rapidly from beneath her ribs. Once she had started to calm, she quietly looked around the darkened room of the shrine. There was no Iron Bridge, no Beryl, and no all encompassing void. And she most certainly wasn't dead.

The dream was over.

Now, the nightmare would begin.

Mina looked over at Rei thoughtfully. Such a beautiful girl, full of life and energy. Talented and spiritual. A powerful, if stubborn personality. It was now time to change all of that.

From somewhere inside her head, Mina could hear a voice demanding, _'Kill her.'_

A look of determination crossed the Sekkou's face as she withdrew the large knife she had stolen from the kitchen earlier that day from underneath her pillow. She studied the blade for a moment, looking at her own reflection in it as she did so. Cool steel, and sharp. All it would take would be a quick swipe across the Miko's throat and it would all be over.

She gripped the handle tightly in her fist and let out a shuddering breath. She hadn't noticed she was nervous until now. '_This is wrong. She deserves to die an honorable death. Not like . . . not like this. Not like this.'_

_'She is the enemy. Kill her! Kill her now!'_

_' . . . No. I can't do it. . . . I WON'T do it.'_

The other voice in her head paused for a moment before replying. _'If you kill her, you can have her. No, you WILL have her. A reward for the trophy you present to your Queen, if you will. You will regain your lost authority and earn something even more valuable to you than that. You aren't killing her. Think of it as . . . yes . . . taking her as your own. Now claim your rightful property!'_

_'How do I know you're telling the truth? What if you're wrong?'_

_'That is none of your concern. You have only to obey. You _live_ to obey.'_

Mina rose to her knees, looking down at her sleeping companion. She let her hand trace the sleeping Senshi's jaw line gently before saying softly, "She looks so peaceful."

_'Do it!'_

The blonde raised the knife over her head, noticing the moonlight gleam off of it momentarily as she did so. She could feel her hands trembling. She looked at Rei again, watching her chest rise and fall, totally unaware of what was about to happen. Much like a lamb to the slaughter.

Mina whispered into the dark,"I don't want . . . No. Not her throat. Perhaps her heart would be quicker? Less painful?"

_'Do it now!'_

Mina suddenly felt herself move without actually willing herself to do so. Her hands thrust the knife down, making a quiet swooshing sound as the blade plunged through the air toward its unsuspecting target.

At the last moment, she pulled her left hand free of the handle and gripped the blade an instant before it could touch Rei, stopping its momentum.

She gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut trying not to scream out in pain. When she finally looked, she could see her own blood slowly dripping down the edge of the blade, staining Rei's blanket.

The Sekkou slowly rose to her feet and backed away. She stopped to look at Rei one last time before leaving to tend to her wound, as well as to clean and replace her stolen weapon. As she turned away, she felt a wave of emotion that was the closest to true guilt she had felt in years.

Once her roommate was gone, Rei allowed her eyes to drift open. The Sekkou hadn't known it, but Rei had been watching her the entire time. How could she not have been? Mina had been screaming in her sleep at the top of her lungs. It was a miracle her grandfather hadn't come running into the room, even if he was starting to become hard of hearing.

Rei released her grip on her transformation wand she had been holding under her blanket. She had been so close to transforming that she was surprised she'd been able to stop herself at all.

Part of her wanted to go after Mina and beat her to the ground, but something she had seen in the other woman's eyes as she had departed kept Rei from doing it. There had been an unmistakable look of regret, and somehow Rei doubted it had to do with the fact that Mina had sliced open her own hand.

Rei sighed loudly, then said, "What's wrong with you, woman?" It was only after she said the words that she realized she wasn't sure if she had meant herself or Mina.

It was only after she'd started trying to go back to sleep, that she realized she probably meant both of them.

* * *

The morning sun rose over Tokyo much the way it always did. And since she had the day off, Minako was now taking the opportunity to watch it from the roof of her apartment building. She'd come up here to get away from her roommate and her girlfriend so she could think. It wasn't that Makoto and Ami were loud. It was just . . . They didn't help at the moment.

Never one to remain completely still even while in deep thought, Minako bounced up and down on her heels as she felt the sun start to warm her skin.

It was a breathtaking view to be sure, but today it wasn't doing much to help her mood. While she'd never show it to her friends, she was feeling just a tad bit hurt by recent events.

She sighed, clasped her hands in front of her and declared to no one, "All right, let's think here."

A quiet yawn was followed by, "Don't strain yourself too hard."

Minako rolled her eyes then looked around until she saw the familiar white cat sitting on the ledge. His eyes were closed as his tail twitched back and forth slowly. If he hadn't have spoken, she would have thought the cat was asleep.

"What are you doing up here, Artemis? Here I am, trying to get some time to myself and--"

Artemis opened one eye and said lazily, "I could ask you the same question. But if you want to know, I always come up here this early. You've been working mornings too long." Then he added, "It's the best time of day to catch pigeons. Tasty little critters. And you know what they say! The--"

"Yep! The late marshmallow gets the largest glass of milk!" She nodded her head in confirmation of the fact. Such things were just self evident to Minako. After a second of thought, she asked, "You eat pigeons?"

Artemis sat up and stretched. "Yep. They thrash around a bit at first, but once you get past the feathers and rip the heart out they--"

"Eeew. That's just gross."

"What's the matter? You cook sometimes, and don't you eat chicken?"

Minako smiled at her friend as she patted his head. "I just don't see how you can catch birds when you're asleep all the time."

"And you never answered my question."

"And maybe I wasn't going to."

"We cats have ways of making people talk."

Minako glared down at Artemis in irritation. She remembered the last time he'd said that. "You wouldn't dare."

Artemis licked his paws and started washing behind his ears, saying casually, "With Ami moving out? I'd do even more than the last time. I'd sing the second verse. A l'il bit faster, and a l'il bit worse."

Minako remembered the last time Artemus had 'sung' to her. It was the middle of the night and he just started yowling at the top of his little lungs, right next to her ear like a good little kitty. Or so her parents had thought.

"Ok. Fine." She huffed at her bangs a bit, exaggerating her irritation with the feline then said, "It's really nothing earth shattering though. I just . . . you know, aside from Hotaru and Setsuna, I'm the only one . . . well, you know, not seeing someone. Even _Ami _is getting it on with someone these days." She tapped her chin with her finger thoughtfully, then said, "Perhaps I'm losing my touch?"

_'Oh. You want to play this game? Ok, let's play.'_ Artemis had known Minako long enough to know when the blonde was lying to him. He decided to take the 'wait and see' approach. Sometimes Minako spilled without any poking.

Minako absently picked up the cat, petting him as she talked. "I mean, I'm pretty, right? Don't you think I'm a good person?. . . don't answer that flea bag. What I guess I'm thinking about is . . . what's wrong with me?"

She continued to look out over the sea of concrete a moment, giving Artemis time to think. So, it wasn't that Mina was hiding the truth from him. She was trying to hide it from _herself_. Artemis made an audible sigh when he realized it was now time to start . . . poking.

"It's Rei, isn't it."

Not thinking, Minako tossed Artemis in the air at the same time that she threw her arms up in frustration. He screamed out, just as he managed to land without breaking something, "Hey! Us cats don't _always _land on our feet, you know?!"

The blonde put her hand on the back of her head feeling suddenly embarrassed. "Oh, sorry. I forgot you were there." Her embarrassment quickly melted to anger as she walked over to the concrete barrier and smacked her palm against it, hoping it would help relieve some of her feelings.

When it didn't, she glared out at the buildings as if it were their fault. "Even Rei's got someone these days."

Artemis gave another disappointed sigh, then said, "You know, you could just talk to her and tell her how you feel."

Minako finally let some of her sadness seep into her words. "It's just not that easy, Artemis."

Artemis had originally expected to spend the rest of the morning trying to convince Minako that it was ok if she had feelings for another woman. For her not to deny it had somehow managed to throw him a bit.

He said dumbly, "It's not?"

"Of course not! It's not like she's some normal girl off the streets. She's a Senshi."

"But I don't see where that's a problem, Minako. I mean, You're one too, you know and--"

Minako huffed at her bangs and said, "I knew you wouldn't understand."

Artemis jumped up on top of the barrier so he could look into Minako's eyes as he said, "Then explain it to me."

"It's just . . ." Minako seemed to look right past Artemis while she spoke. "It's just, I'm her leader. It's not like Ami and Makoto. If I tell them to do something, they'll do it. And I can tell them to do some dangerous things even though we are all close friends. But if I . . . ya know, started to . . . sleep with someone on the team, it . . . might affect my judgment when a tough call needs to be made."

She finally looked into Artemis's blue eyes as she said, "I just don't think I could send her to die if we became closer. And there might be a day I may have to do just that."

Artemis didn't say anything for a moment. It was such a simple logical reason that it simply had never occurred to him it would be a problem. "So, it's like that, huh?"

Minako nodded, then scooped Artemis up in her arms as she started to make her way downstairs. "Yep. It's like that. The most we can ever be is friends. Now that I have made that decision, I have to learn to live with it. It's just as simple as that, and that's all their is to it."

She looked out at the city one last time then said, "Come on. We need to go check on them. Ami I trust, but you know Makoto will try to put the moves on her again if we leave them alone too long and then we'll be late getting over to Rei's."

* * *

"Grandpa, have you seen Mineko?" Rei asked, as she stormed into the kitchen. "She's supposed to be sweeping the patio."

Rei's grandfather finished drying a plate, shrugged then replied, "No, I haven't seen her since breakfast. She said she had a few things to do before she started working this morning." He held up a hand to interrupt Rei before she even started talking. "She also said to make it a point to mention that she's still on the grounds. Really, Rei, you should be kinder to the girl. She is still recovering from being in a car accident, after all."

Rei grumbled, "Just great. Well, if you see her tell her I'll be in with the sacred fire." Without waiting for another word, she twirled on her heels and left the room, fuming.

"I give her a place to sleep, food, shelter, and all I ask in return is for her to do a little bit of work. And how does she repay me?" Rei threw up her arms as she continued to walk and answered her own question, "By considering stabbing me in my sleep. Some people have strange ways of showing gratitude. When I find her I'm going to give her a piece of my--"

Rei pushed open the door leading to the room that held the sacred fire and stopped dead in her tracks. Mina, calmly sitting in front of the sacred fire, was in the last place she had expected to find the woman. Rei was about to yell at her from the doorway, but the sudden realization that the woman was making a real effort to read the sacred flames made her forget her anger for the moment. When it was clear Mina wasn't going to acknowledge her presence, Rei walked over and quietly sat down next to her, saying nothing. For her part, Mina just kept staring into the fire, deep in concentration.

After several minutes of silence between the two, Rei asked softly, "So, what do you see?"

The calm expression on Mina's face melted away to anger and without a second's hesitation she stated mater-of-factly, "I see a stupid blonde sitting in front of a fire, slowly sweating to death while she questions why in the hell she's doing that. Why do you ask?"

When all Rei did was giggle, Mina glared at her and yelled, "What's so damn funny?"

Rei smiled and said, "That's exactly what Minako said when she tried to read the fire."

Rei turned her head back to the flames as she said, "The trick is, you need to let go of your thoughts and emotions and let the fire think for you."

Rei's eyes closed to slits as she began chanting softly. As if on command, the flames began to bend and twirl, sending small sparks flying in every direction causing Mina to stumble away in surprise. After several tense minutes, the fire calmed and Rei opened her eyes and looked down slowly.

Mina tilted her head to the side in curiosity and asked, "So what did _you_ see?"

Rei squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, then said, "The same thing I saw the last time I looked into the sacred fires."

The blonde tapped her fingers on the wooden floor then said impatiently, "That's all you're going to tell me?"

Rei nodded her head slowly then said, "It concerns Makoto. I've been seeing the same image since just before her and Ami got together. At first, I thought it was a sign that things weren't meant to be between them. But now I . . . It's nothing. They were just arguing. Besides, the fire often speaks in riddles anyway. Most of its messages aren't clear until the events have already happened anyway."

Before Mina could ask more, Rei asked, "So what were you looking for?"

"Huh? Uh . . . nothing, I guess."

Rei rolled her eyes. "You know, for a villain, you're not great at lying."

Mina shot her a sideways glance then said in annoyance, "I'm no villain. I--"

Rei gazed into Mina's eyes, silencing the woman. "I saw you last night. If you're not evil, now is your chance to prove it to me."

Mina gibbered nonsense for a moment, torn between the want to lie, and the need for redemption. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to clear her mind. Then she whispered, "I was looking for myself."

Without warning, she grabbed Rei by the collar of her kimono then asked almost pleading, "Do you think a person can change their destiny?"

Rei was ready to scold her, when her eyes met Mina's, stilling her anger once again. What she saw in those eyes could only be described as fear. The great Sekkou Dark Sailor Venus had finally come to the point. The woman who had seriously considered stabbing her in her sleep just last night, was now asking Rei for reassurance. Rei remained calm, but she knew her honest opinion would give little of what the other woman was seeking.

"Personally? . . . No. No one can change their destiny. By definition, destiny . . . our fate . . . is what we are meant for. It's our whole purpose to exist. You can't escape it."

Mina still held on tightly to Rei's kimono, but she looked down, slumping her shoulders in defeat. She mumbled, "Then what you are saying, is that I and my friends were all damned from the beginning of time. We never had a chance in hell at all, did we?"

Rei blinked at the other girl for a moment in surprise. "You are rather talkative today." Mina didn't say anything. She just clung to Rei, shaking just a bit as she continued to look down. It was only after she saw small drops land on the other woman's red Hakama that Rei realized she was crying.

Doing her best to hide her astonishment and pity she suddenly felt for the monster before her, Rei put a hand on Mina's shoulder. "You're scared, aren't you. I . . . I'm sorry. I never realized--"

Mina suddenly fell back laughing. Not a happy laugh though. It was the laugh of a mad woman. "You have no idea what happened to us, do you."

Rei remained calm, saying, "I know enough. You lost. We won. That's the main difference between us. In the end it was just . . . bad luck. No . . . it was--"

"If you tell me it was destiny I swear to god I'll shove my fist down your throat."

Finally, Rei narrowed her eyes at the girl, as her temper returned. "Fine then. What in the hell would you call it?"

The question silenced Mina's laughter. When Mina looked back at Rei, she once again saw fear behind her blue eyes. "I call it terror. I call it unfair. I call it a fate worse than death. That's what I call it."

Rei folded her arms into the sleeves of her kimono and asked simply, "Want to talk about it?"

Lying on her back and staring up at the ceiling, Mina told Rei her story. Or, at least what she and the other Sekkou had thought happened to them. "When Beryl first killed us then brought us back to life . . . it was like she left a part of us missing."

She rolled onto her side and gazed into the sacred fire as she continued. "Yeah. Missing. Or perhaps lost to time. I suppose no one really knows the answer to that, do they? In its place she . . . put a copy. A copy of a small part of her soul. She doesn't have control over us, but we fear her. We fear her because we have a small part of her within each of us. We can never escape her grasp, no matter how far away we try to hide."

She looked back up at Rei. "And believe me, we tried. God, did we try. But when Beryl speaks, we must obey her. If we don't, she'll . . . just jerk our strings. Take what we love. Crush us like bugs. We're nothing but puppets . . .pawns . . . mere toys to her. Nothing more."

Rei gently pulled Mina up so that she was once again kneeling beside her then asked, "If that's true, why didn't you just kill me last night? Surely that's something she wants . . ."

Mina gave Rei a twisted smile. "Didn't you listen? She has control over us, but not direct control. I have essence of Beryl within my spirit, and if it's one thing Beryl possesses within her mind, it's her own agenda. That . . . gift she gave us isn't a part of her. It's separate from her because she felt that autonomous thinking allows us to avoid her fate in your world when we fight. It also has its own agenda."

Rei slowly looked into Mina's eyes and asked, "And, what is its agenda? . . . What does it want?"

Mina put her hands over Rei's as she said, "It wants _you_, Rei Hino."

When Rei didn't pull away, Mina gently squeezed Rei's hands, adding, "And . . . so do I."

* * *

Grandpa Hino smiled up at his guests as he said, "It's so kind of you to come visit your sister, Minako. No doubt, your friends you have brought with you will make her feel that much more welcome, I'm sure."

Minako tried not to grit her teeth at the mention of her 'sister', instead choosing to say, "Thank you. I'm sorry to bother you, but you wouldn't happen to know where they are, would you?"

The old man tilted his head in the direction of the main complex saying, "Last I saw, they were both meditating in front of the sacred fire. Though . . . now that I think of it, they have been there for some time now. Should I tell them you're here?"

Minako started heading that direction before he finished talking, so Makoto said cheerfully, "No, that's all right. We can find 'em from here." Then she grabbed Ami's hand and tugged her in the direction their third companion had gone.

When they caught up with Minako, Makoto said, "So, I don't get it. What's the hurry in finding these two anyway?"

Minako looked over her shoulder. "This was your girlfriend's idea. Why don't you ask her?"

Ami pulled her attention from Makoto's hand with a light blush.

Minako stopped walking a moment, watching the bluenette as an amused look crossed her face. "Ami, you look like you just got caught with your hand in the cookie jar, ya know that? She's your girlfriend. Believe it or not, it _is_ ok if you hold hands."

Makoto's grin was probably visible a mile away as she stated, "She's not used to it yet." Then, still holding onto Ami's hand, Makoto reached out, picked a bright flower from a nearby plant and tucked it behind Ami's ear.

Ami stammered, "Well . . . I, Uh . . . you see . . ." Her face started turning a darker shade of pink as a sheepish smile spread across her lips.

Makoto nodded, then said, "She's not used to getting flowers yet, either."

Minako tossed her hands up then grumbled, "I swear, sometimes the two of you are worse than Usagi and Mamoru!"

As the three continued walking, Ami explained, "Mina has ano-- one of the pendants that activates the portal to their home dimension. Since it does not work, she should not have a problem giving it to us. I would like to take it apart and find out how it works."

Minako stopped at the door to the sacred fire and asked, "Are you sure that's such a good idea? Don't you remember what happened the last time you tried to get a closer look?"

Makoto nodded and answered for her girlfriend. "Yes, that's why when she starts playing with her new toy, I'll be right there to keep our genius from doing anything stupid." Then she pushed Minako aside and opened the door.What she saw caused even her face to turn dark red from the awkward scene before her.

Ami quickly ripped her hand out of Makoto's grasp, covered her face as she shook her head, and turned around, while Minako stared in almost childlike curiosity into the room. After a few seconds, the blonde yelled, "Why, hi guys! Gee whiz! imagine running into the two of you in a place like this . . . doing . . . that."

A part of Minako was furious, but there was another question that she just couldn't get out of her head that was of far greater importance to her than her burning jealousy at that moment. _'Does my butt really look like that from behind?'_

Rei quickly pulled her Kimono over her chest and pushed Mina off of her in one fluid motion while screaming, "Oh my god! Don't you people ever knock?!"

Mina laughed as she pulled her own kimono over her front while Rei shrieked at her, "Don't you have any decency at all?" Turning her attention back to her friends turned peeping toms, the Senshi of fire said, "Can't you at least close the damn door?"

Without a word, Rei watched as Makoto slowly closed the door. Only when they were alone again did she breathe a sigh of relief. Then she yelled, "The damn pendant's in my night stand!" Next, she looked over at her companion and asked, "What's so damn funny?"

Mina bit her finger in an attempt to muffle her laughter, then said, "You just aren't having any fun today, are you, Rei? Come on now, all you have to do is relax. Just forget about them, and do exactly what I asked you before. Just think of me as Minako, only the sex is just a little rougher."

Rei sighed and started to put her kimono back on, asking, "How much do you think they saw?"

As Mina did the same, she said, "Who cares?"

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry for the wait, everyone. I moved and had to spend some time fixing the place up. Please let me know what you think of this chapter. It wasn't that easy to write since I had to cram quite a bit into it. So I would like any feedback (positive or constructive) that you could give.**

**Things heat up in the next chapter again as the story starts to head into the final act. The next chapter is a chapter I have been waiting since I wrote chapter 4 to start writing, so I imagine the wait will not be nearly as long. Thank you for reading, and please review!**


	26. Chapter 26 Until Death Do We Part

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 26: Until Death Do We Part**

**Continuing this way is painful, but**

**A smile to avoid parting**

**Doesn't contain promises.**

**-English translation lyrics from _La Soldier_**

"It's going to rain again," said Makoto as she smiled up at the sky.

Ami nodded, then said quietly, "Yes, it is. It rained last night too."

"I like it when it rains. It's almost as if the whole world is clean just for a little while."

Ami looked down as she replied, "I suppose that's one way of looking at it."

"And I like this tree here, especially this time of year. Green and full of life, with the sun shining through the leaves. . . . well, on a sunny day, anyway." Makoto smiled up at the nearby tree affectionately, then added, "I planted that one twelve years ago, I think. I think it's done pretty good over the years."

This time, Ami put her hand on Makoto's cheek, gently turning her face so that they were looking into each other's eyes. After a moment, Ami said, "You are aware that I will not think any less of you if you become . . . emotional, right? What I mean is . . . I know you always try to be strong but . . . in this case . . .What I mean to say is, it is understandable, Mako-chan."

Finally, Makoto looked down at her parents' tombstone, letting her smile fade away. She pulled a business card out of her pocket and put it in the small slot next to the marker before saying, "No . . .I almost never cry for them here. I usually cry while I'm cooking for myself while reading Dad's recipe cards, or I get Mom's sewing kit out or something. Probably sounds silly to you, but . . ."

Ami squeezed Makoto's hand, trying to be reassuring. "No, it doesn't."

Makoto scoffed as a small smile returned to her lips. "Good answer. Besides, that's not why I brought you here with me anyway."

Makoto bowed politely before her family's marker, then said, "Mother, Father, I'd like to introduce you to someone special to me."

It took Ami another moment to realize that Makoto was waiting for her. Ami bowed, placed the flowers they brought with them in the grave marker's vase then said, "I am Ami Mizuno. I teach science at the local junior high school, and I . . ." She hesitated a moment, then, as a light blush came to her cheeks, she whispered nervously, "I'm . . . um . . . also dating your daughter."

Makoto put her arm around Ami, squeezing her close as she said, "See? That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Well, you see it is the anniversary of their deaths, and this is the first time I have met your parents and and and . . . and . . ."

"Ami?"

"Yes?"

Makoto's smile grew just a little bigger as she said, "You do know they're dead, right? You don't need to be nervous."

Ami put an arm around Makoto, drawing her close as she re-read the marker before them. A few drops of water were starting to fall from the sky, but neither of them bothered to move.

Ami's voice sounded curious as she said, "To my knowledge, you never told any of us you were named after your father."

Makoto shrugged. "What can I say? Mom had her heart set on a little boy, and dad wasn't against letting me play with trucks as long as I learned to cook. I suppose someday we might get to ask them about it . . ."

Suddenly, Ami couldn't help it. She felt her eyes start to water as realization dawned on her. "It must be hard for you, knowing how long we are going to live, when you come here."

Makoto just shrugged again and tightened her arms around Ami. "It does. It's just . . . well, you're an intelligent woman, Ami-chan. Surly you know that we are all going to have to deal with this in our own way eventually. I just had to deal with it first. Well . . . Rei too, I suppose." Makoto tilted her head, indicating a far corner of the cemetery, saying, "Rei's mother is buried down that way, somewhere."

Makoto watched Ami as she studied the flowers in their vase, feeling somewhat guilty for putting such a dark thought in her girlfriend's mind.

Neither of them moved for several moments, until the light rain started to pick up just a little. Makoto said softly, "Come on. Let's drop off the other bundle of flowers for Rei's mother and get back to the car. There isn't any point in staying here now that we have done what we came here to do."

As Makoto guided Ami away, puddles started to form on the ground.

One puddle in particular caught a great reflection of Makoto as they passed by.

Then, the water rippled and started to take on a form. It was as if someone made of clear water were climbing out of it. All too quickly, the shape gained color and mass as it started following the two visitors down the lonely path through the rain.

* * *

Rei was certain that Mina had heard her when she entered the room, but it seemed she chose to ignore her and continue to stare out the window, watching the rain, lost in her own thoughts. To Rei, it was as if the Sekkou was gazing at her own reflection in the glass, almost as if begging it for an answer.

It became clear rather quickly to Rei that Mina was waiting for her to speak first. After a few minutes, Rei moved closer and said, "So, you now have a decision to make."

Mina started to turn toward her, then thought better of it and shifted her attention back to the window. She asked, "About what?"

Rei put her hand on the other woman's shoulder as she said, "I think you know. If I had to guess, I'd say it's the same thing you're thinking about right now."

At those words, Rei felt Mina's shoulder slump just a bit as a quiet sigh escaped her lips. Mina finally glanced over her shoulder at Rei, saying, "They'll be back, and soon. You know that, right?"

"Then you know what decision I'm speaking of, Mina. If you won't say it, then I will. You are going to have to choose between me and them when they come back, and you know it." Rei gazed into Mina's eyes, then said, "And I know you have already made up your mind. So, what's it going to be?"

For a moment, nothing mattered and Mina got lost in Rei's eyes. Then the question registered in her mind. She opened her mouth to speak, but before words left her lips, Rei caught just the slightest hint of annoyance in the other's eyes an instant before she found her hand being brushed away. Without a word, Mina turned back to the window.

Rei looked at her hand, trying to keep her anger in check. Between clenched teeth, she growled, "Don't you dare push me away. I can forgive you for whatever your answer is, but damn it, you are going to tell me _what_ it is, and _why_. I deserve that much."

Rather than answer Rei's question, Mina asked, "You said yesterday, that we can not escape our destiny, but what about ourselves?"

Rei walked forward slowly, then put her hand back on Mina's shoulder. She gave it a gentle squeeze then asked, "What do you mean?"

"Do you think that people can change, Rei?"

Mina's words were so soft that at first, Rei wasn't sure she had actually spoken. Feeling as if she were walking on thin ice, Rei replied, "Yes, I suppose. If we truly wish to change as individuals, we can. In a way . . . one might say that it's a part of one's destiny."

Still facing the window, Mina scoffed, then said, "Why did I know that's what you were going to say? You speak with such authority on such matters."

Even though Mina couldn't see it, Rei shrugged. "There was a time when a Miko's words were considered to come directly from the divine spirits."Trying to get her companion to stop hiding, Rei said, "Don't think I'm letting you off the hook that easily, though. I did notice you avoided answering me."

Mina turned and faced Rei, letting a smile form on her lips before she said cryptically, "You already know my decision, Rei, and if you search your heart, I think you already know why I came to that answer for myself . . . and for you."

Before Rei could ask more, her wrist communicator clicked on. Makoto was yelling so loud, that Rei couldn't make out what she was saying. It switched off just as quickly, filling the room with the sound of static. At least Rei knew where she was. There was only one place Makoto would be today.

Without a word, Rei grabbed Mina's wrist and started running for the door as fast as she could.

Ready for it or not, it was time to find out just what it was that destiny had in store for them.

* * *

Dark Saturn ripped Makoto's wristwatch off, tossed it on the ground and crushed it with her foot in one fluid motion. Then she did her best to regain a hold on Makoto.

This time, Makoto sunk her teeth deep into Dark Saturn's arm in an attempt to get at least one of her attackers off of her. All she earned for her efforts was a sharp punch to the stomach by Dark Pluto, who finally was able to rip Makoto's transformation wand away from her. Then she tossed it far from them.

Trista tightened her free arm around Makoto's neck even more as she whispered, "Well, well, it seems we do not get along, nor play well with others." She ripped her arm out of Makoto's jaws, and smacked the butt of her glaive against the back of Makoto's head, watching with no small amount of satisfaction as Amara and Michelle released her, allowing her to crumple to the ground. Then the four Sekkou turned as one, ready to take on their other opponent.

Even before they started moving to assist, they already knew the fight would be over long before they reached them.

To her credit, Ami had at least had time to transform into Sailor Mercury, and was fending off Dark Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter. Still, she was clearly on the defensive, and it was only a matter of time before one or more of the three would land a decisive blow.

Dodging an attack from her opponent, Lita was able to get a grip on Ami's arm, then simply tossed her as if she were nothing more than a rag doll. Ami crashed into an older tombstone, turning it into rubble, and lay still.

When she didn't try to get up, Lita walked up to the Senshi, then gave her a quick kick to her gut. Other than a loud groan, she didn't react. "Not so tough without a pill crusher, are you, you little . . ." She stopped talking when she felt a hand carefully entwine its self in hers. She twirled on her heels, expecting another fight, stopping herself when she realized who it was.

Amy looked down at her double with a look that might have been sympathy. Not taking her eyes off of their downed opponent, she said quietly, "That's enough, Lita. Let's just finish what we came here for."

Ami lay on her back, partially covered by the rubble of the tombstone she had crashed into. The rain slapping against her somehow managed to make her look even more vulnerable. While she had little love for Ami, Amy couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

Lita said, "But she hit me over the head with a--!"

This time Amy growled, "You can have your way with her later. We have a specific goal in mind, and anything more would interfere with our plans."

Lita had heard enough. After giving Ami another kick, she turned her attention to Amy. With the adrenaline flowing through her blood still affecting her thoughts, she grabbed Amy by the collar and lifted her off the ground. "Our plans? _Our plans_? Let me tell you something about our plans. You threw a real monkey wrench into those when you willingly opened the door wide for Beryl's little pet, Trista, to --"

"That's enough!"

Lita glared at Trista, and obediently put Amy back down before she was ordered to.

This time, Trista grabbed Lita by the collar, jerking her within inches of her face. "We will accomplish nothing by fighting each other. I don't care if you have a problem following Beryl's commands, but you _will _obey me when _I _command you. I may not have the power Beryl does, but I promise you I can be far more creative, if less effective, than she is when it comes to inflicting pain." Looking around at her small audience, she added for their benefit, "That goes for _all_ of you!"

A soft groan brought Trista's attention back to the matter at hand. She tossed Lita back, then turned, entertained by the sight of Makoto pulling herself to her feet.

Trista held up a hand to signal the others to back off. "You recovered from our onslaught quickly. Impressive." Then she swung the Silent Glaive in front of her, pointing the blade at Makoto.

Makoto forced herself to straighten up and look her opponent in the eyes. She tilted her head to the side, cracking her neck and stretching before saying, "You'll find out I'm full of surprises."

A demented smile spread across Trista's face. "I'm sure I will." Then to her comrades, she said, "She's mine."

Ray folded her arms across her chest and grumbled, "You're going to take her on by yourself? Why'd you even bother to bring us along? You want us to just sit here and--"

Circling her opponent, Trista said, "I brought _you_ to take care of _them_."

Before Ray could ask more, a blast of fire slammed into her, tossing her to the ground. Without any argument, the rest of the unoccupied Sekkou moved to quickly circle Mina and Rei.

As the two pressed their backs against each other, Sailor Mars said, "Well, that got their attention. Now what?"

Dark Venus shrugged. "Don't ask me. You're the brains of this outfit, remember?"

Before anyone could throw the first blow, Hotaru turned a concerned gaze back over her shoulder, watching the fight between Makoto and Trista, then said, "We have bigger things to deal with at the moment. Don't worry about your friend, Mina. I have the perfect way to keep her occupied."

She stared into Rei's eyes a moment, then read a near by tombstone absently before whispering, "Summoning of the necromancer." Then she calmly walked away to get a closer observation of her companion's progress in her fight against Makoto. And also to continue in her place should she fall.

Rei watched in horror as the marble family crypt that held her relatives' ashes shattered. A lone urn rose out of the debris with a soft glow surrounding it. There was a flash of bright light, then the urn cracked open. Despite the rain, ash began swirling around, quickly taking form. A form Rei hadn't seen for many years.

Mina started to try to guide Rei away, but was rushed by several of the remaining Sekkou and dragged forcibly away, leaving Rei to fend for herself.

Sailor Mars looked at the woman, unable to think clearly. She was even more beautiful than she remembered. But then, her memories had faded with time.

She looked similar to Rei, only even in death, Akako Hino seemed to posses a calm Rei could only dream of. Her body moved for the first time in well over a decade, as she slowly opened her eyes. Other than a slight pail grayish white color that tinted her skin, she looked just as she had the last time Rei had seen her.

Rei felt like the woman was looking into her very soul. Totally forgetting the situation she was in, she said in shock, "Mother? Is that you? . . . Can you hear me?"

Her burial kimono billowed around her as Rei's mother stepped forward. When she spoke, her words brought a chill to Rei's soul. "You have been nothing but a disappointed to me in my absence, Rei."

* * *

Once Amy, Lita, Ray, Amara, and Michelle had Mina far enough away from prying ears, they formed a tight circle around her, and began their discussion. They each spoke, filling in bits and pieces of their proposition until they were certain that Mina understood what they were asking.

Glaring at Amy, Mina said, "Let me get this straight. You trick me into getting stuck here to get revenge on me for tearing you to pieces all those years ago, and now you're upset because Beryl put Trista in charge, even though you had a pretty good idea she would do that once I was gone . . . and now . . . you come crawling to me on your knees, begging me to return?"

Amy nodded her head. "Precisely. In my blind zeal for revenge, I failed to notice an error with my plan. I did not fully realize Trista and Hotaru's goals to be incompatible with our own until it was too late."

Mina glanced at Amara and Michelle. "You two are their right hand girls. What do you get out of this?"

Amara growled, "We never wanted a hand in any of this. Had it been up to us, we would have rather died than become the monsters that we are. Once we learned of Serena's plan, we realized she had the right idea. But her plan was flawed."

Michelle stepped toward Mina, then continued for her lover, "But once we learned Amy's original plan, we realized that hers had a high probability of succeeding. What we 'get out of it' is the same thing you want. Freedom. It's as simple as that."

Ray nodded her head in agreement with them, then said, "With their help, our plan isn't as hopeless as we originally thought. We can spring our trap on Beryl far more effectively than we ever thought possible. We only need to play her game a little longer. The only thing missing from our strategy, is . . . you."

Mina looked at them, unable to hide her disbelief. "And . . . what do I get by coming back to the fold?"

Lita spread her hands out, and said calmly, "Whatever the hell you want."

Amy studied Mina a moment before finishing for all of them. "So, what do you want, Mina?"

"I want . . . What I want, none of you can give me." She started to turn to watch Rei, but Ray moved to block her view.

Ray said in as seductive a voice as she could manage, "You don't need to accept a substitute. I can be everything she is to you. Everything . . . and more, for you."

Mina stared into Ray's eyes, searching the other woman's soul. She'd longed to hear those words whispered, and dreamed even more of the promises such words would bring her during a cold dark night. But as she gazed into those violet eyes . . . she saw none of the passion, or love, that Rei held when their eyes met. All she saw was . . . darkness and . . . coldness. Death.

In that instant of realization, part of Mina wondered if that was what Rei saw when she looked at her. Part of her began to doubt Rei's intentions and love . . . but another part, from deep within her soul, rose out like a demon from the fiery depths of hell, over riding all of the doubts and discomforts. Destroying the what ifs that dwelt within her.

Mina pushed Ray, sending her falling to the muddy ground. As rain poured around them, Mina glared down at her and barked, "You will _NEVER _be able to be who she is to me. NEVER!"

Amara stepped over Ray, and grabbed Mina's shoulders, giving her a rough shake to get her attention. "Then what is it going to take? You name it, we'll do it."

Mina looked down at Ray in thought. The Sekkou of Fire lay in the mud, staring up at her with more hatred and contempt than any being should ever have been capable of. She had unimaginable power and strength. They all did. But she did not possess the fire that burned within Rei's soul. She didn't possess the kindness, the love . . . anything that Rei had.

That lack of . . . life . . . was the one thing all of the Sekkou had in common.

Mina stepped away from Amara and looked at each of them in turn, saying, "I want her untouched and un-harmed. I know it complicates our plan . . . but, that is my condition. When we are through with the rest of them, we will leave her be, to live out the rest of her days in peace."

She then turned and regarded them each as individuals. As the soldiers they were, if only in the depths of what remained of their hearts, searching for any sign of deceit. She found absolutely none. "Do we have an agreement?"

The gathered Sekkou said together, almost like ghosts in the night, "Agreed."

They then went to join Hotaru in observing the fight being waged nearby to keep Makoto in check, leaving Mina to save Rei.

If it wasn't too late to do so already.

* * *

Rei's mother said calmly, "You have lied to your beloved grandfather, and you never truly tried to develop a meaningful relationship with a decent man. You are sick. Perverted and filthy. You are nothing more than an abomination, unworthy of being called my daughter."

Rei tried to step back, but tripped instead over her own feet. As her mother loomed over her, Rei pleaded, "No . . . _No . . ._ You're proud of me. You . . . Everything I've accomplished . . . I'm a Senshi . . . I help Grandpa . . . I . . . I . . ." Rei was grateful for the heavy rain since it was the only thing that would hide her tears.

She forced herself to stand, and grabbed her mother's Kimono, shaking her weakly. "How can you say those things when you wear that cross around your neck? All those things you taught me about faith and forgiveness . . . If I have offended you . . . you're supposed to forgive me . . . You're . . . you're . . ."

Akako shook her head, then said angrily, "No. You are nothing more than a heathen, just like your grandfather. A witch. A sinner. I will never forgive you."

Rei felt her head slump down as she cried harder. She had always wondered what her mother thought of her. She didn't know if she would approve of everything . . . but this . . . surely this was more than she deserved.

"There is only one way you can make your shortcomings and dishonor up to me, my child."

Suddenly feeling hope fill the huge gash that had been made in her soul, Rei looked up.

Astonishingly strong fingers suddenly wrapped around Rei's neck, squeezing tighter than should ever have been possible for such slender, delicate hands. Akako rasped, "You must die, Rei Hino. Repent, and come to heaven . . . Come back with me."

Rei realized the trap too late. She started to struggle against the iron grip around her throat, but was unable to free herself. Already, she could see flashes of color sparking before her eyes.

As the zombie started to laugh, Rei began digging her nails into the flesh of Akako's arms, causing small flakes of ash to scrape off and mix with the mud and rain.

Akako's voice suddenly decayed to something inhuman as she shrieked, "How foolish you are! Now you may have the honor of joining your mother in hell!"

Rei shook her head no, despite the fact that it made her feel dizzier. A part of her mind screamed that there was no way this, this thing, was her mother, demanding Rei defend herself. Despite this realization, the other half of her mind just couldn't bring herself to fight back.

Just as Rei thought she was about to lose consciousness, a blast of bright yellow light flew through Akako, causing the abomination to scream in anger. Mina's next attack blasted her back to ashes which quickly turned to a pile of gray mush in the rain.

Rei fell to the ground, panting for breath. Between gasps, she managed to gasp out, "Thank you," as she twisted her head to look at Mina.

Dark Venus walked up to Rei and helped her to her feet. Then she gave Rei a hug. "I'm sorry, Rei, but this is for the best." Before Rei could inquire further, Mina grabbed the sides of Rei's head with both hands, forced her to bend over, and violently kneed her in the forehead.

Once Rei lost consciousness, Mina gently lowered her to the ground. After giving one last longing look back at Rei, she turned and ran to the aid of her fellow Sekkou.

* * *

Despite pouring rain and being totally unarmed, Makoto had held her own against Trista rather well. And now, the Sekkou had left her the perfect opening.

Makoto delivered another punch to her opponent, followed by a kick to Trista's stomach, causing the Sekkou of Death to fall on her knees. As the woman gasped for breath, Makoto ripped Trista's glaive out of her hands, then smashed the shaft of the weapon across the Sekkou's face, sending her straight on the flat of her back.

With expert skill, Makoto twirled the deadly weapon for a moment in her hands, then pinned Dark Saturn in place by pressing her foot on her chest. When Trista started to push herself up, Makoto pressed the deadly blade against her throat just enough to coax the woman to lie back down.

Despite not taking her eyes off of her opponent for even a second, Makoto knew the rest of the Sekkou had surrounded her quite some time ago. What bothered her, was that they hadn't attacked . . . yet. "What are your 'friends' waiting for?"

Trista casually looked up at Makoto and said, "They wait for you to finish me. Has it taken you this long to realize? No matter what you do now, you are lost. Surrender now, and I'll make your death mercifully quick."

A sound off to the side caused both of them to risk a glance away from the other. Mina and Lita had dragged Ami closer to them. Ami, still dazed and laying on the ground, coughed and blinked her eyes weakly, while Rei lay beside her, still unconscious.

Makoto turned her eyes back to Trista and said, "Leave them alone."

Trista laughed, stopping only when Makoto pressed her foot down on the woman's ribs. When Trista was able to talk again, she asked, "What makes you think we are even after _them_?"

Without warning, Trista sent a blast of energy crashing into Makoto, knocking her away, and the Silent Glaive fell free from her grip. As she rose to her feet and retrieved her weapon, she said, "It's too bad we were able to prevent you from fighting as a Senshi. You would have been far more challenging."

Makoto forced herself to stand, despite screaming pain in her joints. "Powers or not, I'm going to kick your ass."

Ami's senses returned to her, and when she saw what was happening, she started to stand while screaming "_Makoto! No!_" Before she could run to her aid, Mina and Lita grabbed her arms, restraining her.

Even if it hadn't been too late, Makoto was too blinded by rage to have listened, nor would there have been enough time to come up with a better plan. Ignoring Ami's screams, Makoto charged the Sekkou.

Dark Saturn shook her head, and said, "Foolish." This time, she was ready.

Trista dodged the first punch Makoto threw, then twirled the glaive so that the staff crashed against Makoto's forearm, shattering bone. Then, not giving Makoto any time to recover, Trista slashed the blade of her weapon across Makoto's back, following up with a ruthless kick to her kidneys. She took a step back, like a cat playing with a mouse before making the final kill.

Makoto twirled around, still managing to stay on her feet. Despite the brave front she put up, it was obvious from the way she nursed her arm that she was in pain. When she realized that Trista was waiting for her to bring the fight to her, she did the only thing she could.

Turning just enough to look at Ami, she asked, "I'm open to suggestions."

Ami cried, "Makoto forget about us! Run!"

Makoto shrugged as best she could saying, "You know, I never run unless I'm being chased. Besides, there isn't anywhere to run to."

Ami yelled, "_Makoto_ _please_! Just run!"

Trista smiled at Makoto, then said, "Yes . . . yes, my fearless Senshi . . . run. Run, like the coward you truly are. Tell the others what you witness here today. Tell them how you were weak and unable to save the one you love."

Trista twirled her glaive dramatically, then held the weapon parallel to the ground, and ran straight at Ami, fully intending to . . .

Forgetting the tremendous pain she felt, Makoto let out an incoherent scream, then ran as fast as she could, getting in front of Ami before Trista did. She had just enough time to turn and face her fate.

Ami screamed, "_No! Makoto no!"_

There was a sharp, yet quick scream from Makoto as the blade plunged deep into her chest. For a moment, no one, not even Trista, moved. The only sound was Ami whimpering. To her, what she was witnessing was worse than if it had happened to herself.

Trista pushed the blade ever so slightly deeper, twisted it, then whispered to Makoto, "Does it hurt? . . . yes . . . it does, doesn't it. Don't worry. It will all be over soon. Now, say goodbye to your lover."

Then she gave Makoto a violent kick to the stomach as she yanked her blade free, sending Makoto sprawling backward, landing at Ami's feet with a dull thud. Only then did the Sekkou restraining Ami release her.

The Sekkou suddenly forgotten, Ami knelt down beside Makoto. She pressed her hands over the wound, quieting the sucking sounds it made with every one of Makoto's breaths. In her heart, Ami knew there was nothing more to be done. Still, she had to try.

Ami looked into Makoto's eyes and said, "Try not to talk. If . . . if we can get you away from here . . . we can use Saran Wrap to equalize the pressure in your lung . . . and then . . . and . . .once we get you to a. . . to a hospital . . . we could . . . we . . ."

With her remaining strength, Makoto brought her hand up and cupped Ami's cheek gently. When she spoke, Makoto's voice gurgled almost as if underwater. "Sorry . . . I'm sorry."

Sailor Mercury's voice hitched in her throat a moment when she noticed Makoto's teeth tinged pink with blood. The only thing worse than that, was how truly terrified the look in Makoto's eyes was.

Ami cradled Makoto's head, cooing, "Makoto . . . It's . . . ok . . . It's ok."

Makoto rasped, "Ami I lo . . . I . . . love . . . I . . . ve . . ." Her jaw spasmed weakly a few more times, but no sound came out. Then, she seized violently, almost throwing Ami off of her in the process.

After a few more moments, Makoto's body relaxed, and her head became heavy. Her jaw spasmed once more . . . then again . . .and then her eyes were still open . . .

But she was gone.


	27. Chapter 27 Of Apples and Oranges

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 27: Of Apples and Oranges**

Kneeling in a puddle of rain-slicked blood, Sailor Mercury tightly clung to Makoto's body. She shook her head while burying her face in Makoto's shoulder. Nothing else mattered at this point to her. Besides, with the odds stacked so heavily against her, there just wasn't any reason to fight back at this point anyway.

Trista stepped forward and placed a hand on Ami's shoulder tightly, ready to rip her away from her trophy, but Ami was able to yank her shoulder out of her grip, still holding onto her dead lover.

Dark Saturn said, "You weak fool! Stand and defend yourself!"

"Give her a moment, for pity's sake!"

Trista pointed her glaive in warning at Amy, then said, "You want a go, little girl?"

Amy stepped forward and said, "She is suffering. It is not right."

Trista laughed, then said, "She is an enemy to the throne, and must be dealt with. Besides, since when did you care about how any of them felt? I hear you electrocuted this one just for sport."

Amy narrowed her eyes at the taller woman, then said, "It was the most efficient way of making her talk. Don't you dare judge me for what I had to--"

Mina put her hand on the bluenette's shoulder and said, "That's enough, Amy." Then to Dark Saturn she said, "Trista? I thought the plan was to kill them one by one."

Trista looked past Ami, and into Makoto's lifeless gaze. Even in death, the woman appeared to have courage and strength. "We can kill three of them right here, right now." Glaring at Amy, she said, "It's the _logical_ thing to do."

Thinking quickly, Dark Venus said, "Leaving these two alive would work to our advantage."

Dark Saturn said, "If you know what is best for you, you will not step outside of your new _lesser_ role. If you think you can convince me that--"

Mina stepped forward, speaking rapidly, "Killing them one by one will demoralize them. With every victory, we would gain strength while theirs will leave them. It may take longer, but it is a far more efficient means of defeating our enemies."

Trista tilted her head, saying, "Yes, I know. That was the original plan. But you saw this one yourself. If she is any indication, they are far stronger than we anticipated. It is dangerous to risk letting even one of them live, even for a matter of moments. Especially when such a perfect opportunity to eliminate many of them presently exists."

Dark Venus had now moved so she was standing between Ami and Trista. She looked right into the woman's eyes and said, "What you call strength, I call desperation. Go ahead and kill her if it pleases you, but at the very least, you know it won't be as thrilling for you this way." That was the major difference between Mina and the rest of the Sekkou, and what had allowed her to lead them for so long. She could read people.

And if there was one thing she knew about Trista, it was that she lived to watch the life leave her victim's eyes.

Dark Saturn looked down at Ami in thought, then lowered her weapon slowly and stepped away. "Enough of this. We must show Beryl proof that we are worthy of carrying out her orders. This lone dead Senshi is more than enough of a trophy. We shall leave these two so that they might amuse us more in the future."

Then she said to Amy and Mina, "Prove your loyalty to me, and retrieve the body."

Mina held up a hand, stopping Amy. "No, I'll do it. It's my responsibility alone."

She knelt down beside Sailor Mercury and said softly, "She's gone, Ami. You can't follow her where she is now." Mina put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and continued, "Let her go. It will be easier this--"

Ami finally lifted her head, looking right into Mina's eyes. In that moment, the Sekkou knew there was something that had died within the woman. And it had been replaced by intense pain and hopelessness. Ami didn't need to say anything for Dark Venus to know she would never let go of Makoto willingly.

Then without letting go of Makoto's body, Ami punched Mina as hard as she could manage.

Mina rubbed her cheek gently, and was glad for the fact that this Senshi wasn't physically any stronger."I'm sorry, Ami, but this is for the best." Mina took a step back, then delivered a hard kick to the side of Ami's head, sending her sprawling on her back into the mud.

Mina gave one last longing look at Rei's unconscious form, then beckoned for Amy to help her lift Makoto's body.

As the two of them started to lift the corpse, Ami groaned, then pushed herself to her feet, trying to look as defiant as she could, staggering toward them to make one last attempt to reclaim Makoto's body.

Dark Saturn stepped in front of Ami as she said "You Senshi just don't give up, do you?" Then she nodded her head, saying, "Take care of my light work."

Ray and Lita had moved so that they were now standing behind Ami. Without so much as a thought, Dark Mars delivered a well placed punch to her back, sending Ami to her knees. Then Dark Jupiter gave Ami a sharp kick to the gut before stepping over her to join the others.

Dark Neptune activated her pendant, and as Ami watched from her place on the ground, the Sekkou left, taking Makoto's body with them.

* * *

The first thing Rei was aware of was a splitting headache.

Opening her eyes didn't help anything either.

Once her senses started to return to her, she realized she was laying in a bed . As Rei touched her head in an attempt to ward off the pain, she noticed that someone had carefully wrapped the top of her head with gauze. Then she remembered what, in her mind, had just happened.

"Mina!", Rei yelled as she sat up quickly. She immediately regretted the action as a wave of nausea overtook her, and found herself slumping back to her pillow.

Rei groaned loudly, as she pressed her fingers against her head, saying, "This feels far worse than any hangover I have ever had."

She started to stand, and felt a hand reach out and grab hers, helping her to her feet. Rei's head started to spin as her eyes lost focus for a moment. A pair of slender arms wrapped around her waist, supporting her.

Minako said gently, "Hey, take it easy. You took a nasty blow to the head."

With Minako's help, Rei staggered over to a chair. Once Rei was sure she wouldn't fall out of her seat, she asked, "Where's Mako-chan and Ami-chan?"

Minako knelt in front of Rei and stammered, "Rei, you . . . just need to relax for a minute. Ami says you could have a concu--"

Rei held up a hand and said, "You know better than to mess with a woman with a migraine, Minako-chan. I'll heal. Ami was doing pretty bad last thing I remembered, and Makoto . . . how bad is it?"

The blonde looked down at her hands the moment Rei started talking, but even then, she had seen just enough of Minako's eyes to know that she was crying. Minako said between sobs, "I tried Rei . . . we . . . all did. It's just . . . Tokyo's such a . . . big city, and traffic . . . getting away from our jobs . . . and . . .and . . ."

Minako stopped talking a moment, as she sucked in air, trying to force herself to calm down. "Makoto . . .Makoto is. . ." She closed her hands into fists, then managed to gasp out, "She's dead, Rei. Makoto's dead."

Rei shook her head in disbelief. "No . . . She was holding her own. She . . ."

Still looking at her fists, Minako continued, "Ami's distraught. She blames herself."

Still numb, Rei moved down to the floor and pulled Minako close while saying, "I'm sure she did her best. If anything it's my--"

Rei could feel Minako's tears starting to dampen her shoulder as Minako said softly, "No, it's not. It's _my _fault, Rei. I didn't even get there until . . . maybe 20 minutes after it was . . . over. Ami . . . she was covered in blood. I thought it was yours at first, since she was trying to drag you away by herself . . . She was totally alone . . ." After that, Minako just couldn't talk anymore.

Finally, Rei could feel her own tears starting to run down her cheeks. She held Minako close to her as she whispered, "It was no one's fault, Minako. Like you said, we all did our best." Rei shrugged weakly as the full implications of what had happened finally hit her, and finished by saying, "Fate just . . . wasn't on our side today."

* * *

Ami ran a hand through her still-damp hair, then hunched back over the apartment's small dining room table to hide her face. It was the only movement in the room for several minutes.

Aside for his wife, Mamoru considered himself closest to Ami out of the Senshi. One of the things he admired Ami for was her ability to control her emotions, and to think logically in any situation. For him, seeing her unable to do both was even worse than learning of Makoto's fate.

Moving closer, he said, "Ami . . ." Then he stopped. He was about to say that Makoto wouldn't have wanted her to be like this, but that was as far as he managed to get. Somehow, he didn't feel it was enough. Instead he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder for a moment, then stepped back. Sometimes, all one could do was be there for a person.

Usagi sat across from Ami, wiping her own tears from her cheeks. Finally she said, "I know you're hurt, Ami, we all are. But you need to talk to us." She tried to smile as she said, "Don't you always tell Rei that bottling up her emotions is a bad thing?"

Ami said, "No . . . Usagi-chan, I could have saved her. There had to be a way. All I had to do was--"

Mamoru interrupted her, saying, "Ami-chan, you're being too hard on yourself. You did your best. Makoto would be proud of you."

Still not looking up, Ami shook her head. "No! You don't understand. I was . . . Mamo-chan . . . I didn't even try to fight. I just . . . I did . . . what I did last time. I just . . . I gave up. What if I could have gotten Makoto away? What if I had been able to revive her? What if--"

Usagi said, "Ami . . . I know my math skills aren't good but . . . even I know nine against one wouldn't have been a fair fight."

Ami clenched her hands into fists, then, without looking up said, "I just . . . I don't get it."

Mamoru and Usagi looked at each other, then back at Ami. That was the first time they could ever remember her saying that.

Ami unclenched her hands, saying, "I must have done something wrong. I should have anticipated that they would try to ambush Makoto today. It was such an obvious thing for them to have done . . . I should have gone to you all earlier and . . ."

Ami's voice trailed off as she said softly to herself, "No . . . wait . . . that's not possible."

Mamoru said, "Ami, you need to listen to us. It was not your fault. There wasn't anything you could have done by yourself. You gave it your all. Regardless of how all of us feel, you can't blame yourself for this, and we aren't going to let you."

Ami finally raised her head as she pushed her chair back, then looked at the two of them for a moment. She had stopped crying, but the lost expression she wore seemed even more out of place. "No! You do not understand. I . . . I don't get it. When we went into the future, she was still alive thousands of years from now. I saw it myself. So did you."

Usagi interrupted her, saying carefully, "Ami . . . this isn't a math problem that you can just figure your way out of. There wasn't a right or wrong answer. You need to sto--"

Ami shook her head, then put her glasses back on as she tried to regain control of her emotions, saying frantically, "No, not math, physics!"

Usagi sat back up in her chair and said, "Uh . . . did I miss something?"

Ami's eyes lost focus as she looked through Usagi at some unseen formula. Then she looked at Mamoru and said, sounding just a bit uncertain, "Novikov's Self Consistency Principle?"

Usagi blinked her eyes in confusion, then looked at Ami as if she had finally cracked. " Uh . . . Ami, that's kinda out of the blue, isn't it? I can't even pronounce that . . . Nike's self continent principal? What's that?"

Mamoru looked at Ami, shook his head sadly and said, "You know that's only a theory, Ami. There's just as much chance that Polchinski's Paradox is possible. I just . . . I don't know if this is something you want to place your heart on, Ami."

Ami shook her head, as tears started to run down her cheeks, but at the same time, she started to smile. She looked at Usagi, and said, "But if I am correct . . . We know that various solutions to theory of general relativity allow closed time like curves such as Goldel Metr-- . . ." Seeing Usagi's eyes start to spin, Ami said, "No wait, let me start over."

Ami started pacing around Usagi and Mamoru, then she went over to the counter and picked an apple out of the fruit basket. "Ok . . . if . . . no . . . that is not right. Setsuna has proven that time travel is possible. So . . . _since _time travel is possible, in theory if I throw this apple through a worm hole that has an opening that is located approximately three seconds into the future at just the right angle, it should be able to strike itself, thus preventing the apple from going into the future."

Usagi nodded dumbly, then said, "Uh . . .ok?"

"That is what Mamoru is talking about. That's Polchinski's Paradox. However, because of Novikov's Self Consistency Principle, the apple comes through at a different angle, not the same one. So, the apple still strikes itself in the past, but it knocks it in such a way that it alters its trajectory so that it winds up being the cause of what sends it through the worm hole."

Ami continued, "Or, the apple comes through at the same angle, hitting the apple that came through so that instead of the apple I threw, the apple that exited the worm hole ricochets off of the one I threw and it enters the worm hole that takes it into the future instead, thus knocking itself back through time so that it still strikes itself in such a way that it penetrates the future. Thus, the apple will always go into the future when I throw it, no matter how I throw it, or how it comes out of the worm hole three seconds into the future. The apple will _always _get to the worm hole to get into the future.

Usagi got up, and shook Ami's shoulders, "I don't know what you just said, but that's crazy talk, Ami-chan . . . and besides, you're not an apple . . ."

Mamoru nodded, then said, "Usagi's right."

Usagi said dumbly, "I am?"

Mamoru sighed, then said, "Yes. Ami, what Usagi is saying is, we don't want to see you get hurt by putting your hopes up. Plus, even if the theories are correct, then you also should know that we need to factor in parallel universes, an orange being tossed at your apple by me, if you will, into your equation. Now that we are aware of there existence, we have to acknowledge that there is always the chance that you are wrong about the . . . uh well, your apple. The amount of variables to consider are so extreme that--"

Ami shook her head, as hope began to fill her voice. "No! Mamoru, . . . Usagi . . . the apple, destiny, fate, what have you. I am saying you can not change the future. Well . . . you might be able to do minor changes . . . but the outcome will always be the same. So Makoto can't be . . . and if she's not then . . . but even if she is . . ."

Usagi looked worried as she said, "Yeah, Ami-chan, we need to think about Mamoru's idea too. We have to think about the . . . uh . . . idea? . . . Fact? That there is a bad apple . . . or an orange . . . or something being thrown and . . . not that there's anything wrong with your apple! I mean . . . it's such a nice red apple. It's . . . It's just . . . well . . . uh . . ." The blonde turned to her husband and said, "Well, you explain it to her!"

Mamoru said to both of them, "Either way, it means we have a serious problem on our hands."

* * *

Queen Beryl stood in the shadows, waiting patiently. She knew her minions had returned, and was eager to hear what message they had to deliver. Either way, she felt it would prove . . . entertaining to her.

The door to her chamber opened, and Trista strolled confidently up to Beryl, then knelt before her queen. Holding both of her hands out dramatically, she presented her lady with a chrome serving tray.

Standing beside Beryl was her new guard, Dark Sailor Moon. The woman glared at the intruder, then demanded, "What is the meaning of this."

Dark Saturn stepped aside, then commanded, "Bring her in."

The rest of the Sekkou entered the room. The first two, Rei and Lita, carried Makoto's body. Once they reached their queen, they tossed her at Beryl's feet, then once again, formed a line before their queen, patiently waiting to hear what she would say.

Beryl stepped back from the corpse nervously, then looked at Trista. Forcing herself to become calm, she asked, "Is she dead?"

Trista nodded, then glanced at Dark Moon as she said, "Unlike _some_amongst us, I would never allow a living Senshi to get near our beloved queen."

The queen glared down at the remains, then said to Serena, "Ensure that it is so."

Dark Moon walked over to Dark Saturn, held out her hand, motioning for the other Sekkou to give her the Silent Glaive.

Dark Saturn narrowed her eyes at the woman, but did as was requested of her.

Serena turned, then kicked Makoto's body so that she rolled onto her back. Sunken unseeing eyes gazed up at the ceiling, and her slack jaw lay open as if yawning.

Serena said sarcastically, "Well . . . she certainly _looks _dead, but one can never be too sure, can they?"

She gently tapped Makoto's side a few times with her foot. Then, in a fit of unprovoked rage, Dark Moon stomped on the dead woman's chest, causing what little remained of Makoto's breath to escape in a soft, lifeless gasp.

Then she stabbed the blade deep into Makoto's stomach. With the exception of herself and Trista, the rest of the Sekkou either closed their eyes for a few moments, or turned their heads away. This had long since passed barbaric, even for them.

Trista looked at her queen, then said, "Satisfied?" She didn't bother to hide her frustration with the situation. Being robbed of her victory by one who had essentially done nothing infuriated her beyond words. But one did not say such things to a queen with as much power as Beryl.

Rather than responding, Beryl lifted her Ginzuishou, incinerating Makoto's battered body with the wave of her hand. As with the Sekkou, a small ball of light emerged. But Makoto's was different.

The spirit of Makoto Kino glowed with a brilliance far brighter and vivid than any of the Sekkou's had. It also had a slight green tint to the light that radiated from it. Her spirit brought light to every corner of the room, virtually smothering out the shadows. Her spirit was proud and strong. And it resisted Beryl's power.

Beryl glared angrily at this strange powerful being. "How dare you defy me." Then, with the flick of her wrist, darkness returned to the farthest reaches of the room, slowly starting to twist and weave it's way around the glow of Makoto's spirit. Slowly smothering the light. While Makoto wasn't able to push back, she was able to slow it.

The spirit flashed for a few seconds, sending sparks of electricity arching around the speck of light.

The queen growled, "I think not, you _fool_!"

More sparks flew from the ball of light, as Beryl tilted her head slightly to the side, listening to an unheard voice. Whatever was said, caused anger to flash in Beryl's eyes.

Beryl clenched her teeth together for a moment. Then she said back, "She cannot save you. No one can save you. You are _mine_ now."

Then, as Beryl gripped the Ginzuishou tighter in her hands in frustration, the shadows of the room swirled around the green light, causing it's glow to soften considerably, and in it's own way, violently. There was one last bright flash from the light in protest, then it was wrapped in a darkness that allowed only the smallest amount of light to radiate from it.

Beryl motioned to Makoto's spirit. Crushed and cloaked in shadow, it obediently hovered over the queens open hand. Queen Beryl whispered, "You see, I can break your kind. Mold you into whatever I want. Your power and stubbornness will make you the perfect killing machine, my new pet."

Then, she tossed her prize into the ashes, and watched as bright light formed around the pile, slowly forcing it to take shape.

She had Makoto's body, but one could tell by looking into her eyes that she possessed little of her own soul. Like the other Sekkou, Makoto's leotard was now black, and her tiara titanium instead of gold. The cloth that had once been a vibrant green, was now white. Beside her lay a long black javelin.

Makoto's new body lay on the ground motionless for a moment before taking her first, loud greedy gasp for air.

Beryl said almost mockingly, "Rise, Dark Sailor Europa, and abandon all hope. For you, it is forsaken."

Wordlessly and obediently, Dark Europa picked up her javelin and got to her feet.


	28. Chapter 28 Puzzle Pieces

Double Jeopardy

**Chapter 28: Puzzle Pieces**

As the doors parted before her, Dark Sailor Saturn could see the Queen sitting upon her elaborate throne, lost in her own scheming. Trista stopped a safe distance from her, waiting for acknowledgment before speaking. Such was, of course, standard procedure. Usually Beryl did not keep her waiting long, though it was not unheard of for her to make many others, those less worthy of her attention, wait for hours.

To control her patience, Trista continued to fine tune her own plans. The beginnings of encounters were almost never planned out much because it was never known which of the Senshi the teleporter would track onto first, and it was impossible to choose the environment. The best course of action was to wait until the device tracked onto the senshi they were after. The wait was tedious at times, but it was worth it as far as strategy was concerned.

After several minutes of silence, Dark Saturn let out a sigh, trying to ignore the fact she had still not been addressed yet. No one else was here, thus the queen was apparently trying to test her in some way. Despite feeling it was a childish gesture on Beryl's part, Trista quietly reminded herself that the woman was not one to be trifled with.

More time passed.

Unable to stand being ignored any longer, Trista decided to get Beryl's attention as politely as she could. She knelt down before Beryl, looking at the ground before carefully saying, "I respectfully request an audience with you, my Queen." In return, Beryl continued to sit upon her throne, eyes looking through her servant as if she weren't even there.

Trista looked up at Beryl and said questioningly, "Revered ruler?" When Beryl didn't so much as blink, Trista stood up. No longer willing to wait, and unable to keep her displeasure out of her voice she said, "With your permission, I am going to take a team of Sekkou and--."

Before Trista could finish, Beryl made a small gesture with one of her fingers toward her kneeling servant. Dark Sailor Europa stepped out of the shadows from behind Beryl and wordlessly tossed her javelin through the air, throwing Trista back and pinning her against the wall.

The Sekkou of Death glanced at the javelin stuck in the shoulder of her uniform and then to its owner while asking smugly, "I thought it was never supposed to miss?" Then more seriously to Beryl, "What's the meaning of this?"

"Dark Sailor Europa is a most loyal servant. Silent, patient, obedient and totally submissive to me. She did not miss, but hit the mark she was ordered to," Beryl said as she rose and gracefully walked toward Trista. "My pet has been instructed to give you a warning, Dark Saturn, leader of my _precious_ and loyal Sekkou. Her message is a simple reminder during your rise in power and influence from within my court. Simply put, do not forget who you serve. That is the mistake your predecessor made."

With a yank, Trista ripped the weapon out of the wall, freeing herself. Then she dropped it on the ground and said quietly, "I need no such warning, my Lady." With an exaggerated bow, she continued, "I live merely to serve."

"Then you will have no trouble bringing Europa with you on a field test," Beryl said with a smile.

"With all due respect, I do not know if she will respond to my orders . . . " Stepping close to Makoto, Trista snapped her fingers in front of the taller woman's face. When Makoto didn't so much as blink, Dark Sailor Saturn said, ". . . or if she even hears me."

Beryl laughed. "Europa is a complete automaton. She obeys all orders without question, feeling or remorse, so long as they are in my interests. I believe you will find her to be quite effective in aiding you. Now go, deal those meddlesome fools a crushing blow and return one step closer to victory."

_**

* * *

**_

The Senshi had decided it was best they report Makoto to the authorities as missing, and do their best to live out their daily lives as if nothing happened while they wait for the inevitable next attack. Until then, they all agreed the best thing to do was to try to maintain a normal routine.

Once the Senshi of the outer rim planets were alone though, Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru had far more to say about it to Setsuna. To the best of her recollection, it had been the first time she could remember Haruka getting upset with her. She had accused her of knowing ahead of time, and was furious that she hadn't given them so much as a hint about what was to come.

Of course, she was correct. When Setsuna informed her of that, only Michiru was able to save Setsuna from Haruka's wrath. It was the first time in a long time she could recall being surprised by something.

Setsuna had thought that at the least, Sailor Uranus would not only understand that she wouldn't tell them the future, but had even expected her to take it in stride. However over the years, both unofficial groups of Senshi had formed a closer relationship than they'd possessed in the past, and until that moment, it simply hadn't occurred to her that her companions would react the way they had.

Somehow, it was Hotaru's silence on the matter that was the sharpest blow of all.

For the large part, once they had calmed down, Haruka and Michiru had begrudgingly come to terms with the fact that Setsuna had only been doing what she had to in order to protect the future. But it hadn't escaped her notice that Hotaru had become quieter, primarily when Setsuna was anywhere in the area.

Out of all three of them, Hotaru was the one who seemed to be doing her best holding a grudge and keeping her distance from Setsuna. Haruka had tried to tell her that it was probably just Hotaru 'being a typical moody kid', but Setsuna wasn't so certain.

As much as she didn't like it, Setsuna hoped Hotaru's small act of rebellion would help make the near future easier on the girl.

By now cooler heads had prevailed and things had largely calmed down in there household. The arguing and finger pointing had lessened, and over the last two days they had finally started eating together again.

For now however, none of it mattered. All that mattered to Setsuna at this very moment, was breakfast.

As she thought about it, it was like any other morning in her life since she started living with her three companions. As usual, she was the first out of bed, long before sunrise. She didn't feel strange or anxious at all. For her own personal reasons, she found this amusing.

Setsuna poured herself another cup of coffee, then quietly went back to reading yesterday's paper since today's had yet to arrive. She turned the pages absently, lost in her own thoughts. She took a bite of her toast, then put it back down on the plate. Her expression remained blank as she stared at the black print absently.

While re-reading the 'latest' on yesterday's news about Tokyo's politics, she said to herself, "My one regret is that I didn't do more to encourage Hotaru to have more of a social life."

"Decaffeinated coffee and toast." She shook her head gently as a faint smile spread across her lips. "I suppose most would choose something a touch more extravagant, but it will do. Besides, sometimes comfort is found in the ordinary." Then she brought her cup of coffee back to her lips, took another sip . . .

And mid way through returning it to the table, she froze as the light caught it just right, allowing her reflection to dimly appear in the warm liquid just for an instant.

She slowly lowered the warm mug to the table as she said absently, "You're watching me right now . . . aren't you." It wasn't a question. She simply knew this to be true. "You are curious. You are wondering if I know . . .and yes . . . yes, I know."

She got up quietly and made her way to the doors leading to the back yard. As she flipped on the backyard lights and stepped out onto the deck, she looked around absently for a moment.

They'd added an interesting small koi pond, and the landscaping hid the wall that muffled the sound of the highway to the point it was hardly noticed. Memories of the many social gatherings she'd shared with all of the Senshi, as well as other friends came flooding back to her as she stood there.

She shook her head to clear her mind, reminding herself that she hadn't come here to think. She had come here to have an . . . interesting conversation. She leaned over the deck's railing, and looked down, straight into her own reflection as it gazed back up at her from the koi pond.

"Oh yes," she said softly to her own reflection in the water, "I know your future. All too well, as a matter of fact."

As if reacting to her comment, her reflection rippled a bit from a soft gust of wind in the still morning air.

She narrowed her eyes as she listened to unheard voices. After a moment, she said, "Then allow me to be the first to tell you. You will yet live to regret many, many things which you have done and have yet to do before you meet your end."

This time, Setsuna watched as her reflection's expression changed unmistakably to one of pure rage. Lips moved as Trista spoke behind clenched teeth. Despite the fact her words could not be heard, Setsuna knew what was said.

Setsuna nodded her head absently, and answered, "So be it. But if I may be so bold, a word of advice before we allow the days events to unfold. I suggest you heed them well, for I promise you, you will one day come to rue the day you first heard them."

The Senshi of Time leaned over the railing and said, "The biggest problem with knowing one's self . . . is that deep down, you know when you are wrong."

* * *

Minako glanced at the clock on the wall and took the last sip from her soda then said into her headset's mike, "This is Minako in the Morning on WKLTX 103.5. What you just heard was the song 'Yume Miru Dakeja Dame', and you are lucky caller number twelve! What's your name!"

"What? I won? Wow! This is incredible! Uh . . . sorry, it's just this kind of thing never happens to me. My name is Kunihiko Ikuhara."

"Mmm hmm, and do you know what you've won?"

"Yes! A trip for three to Tokyo Disneyland! I'm so excited! I'll be bringing--"

Minako cut the man off and said cheerfully, "And what's your favorite music station?"

Kunihiko swooned, "Woo-Hoo! WKLTX 103.5 with you, Minako, this morning and every morning! Yes!"

Minako pressed a button, transferring the man back to the studio's main switch board so they could get the necessary information from him then said, "That's right! You be sure to tell all your friends! We'll be back after this commercial break. With our next game name that tune, where we play portions of a cartoon's opening credits in reverse and the first one to call in wins a free car wash at any Shell Station of your choice, and dinner for two at Tokyo Midtown." She then flipped the audio over to the commercial track.

The moment she did, she instantly lost the happy go lucky tone to her voice. She pressed another switch and said to her manager "These morning people are _crazy_, Yoshioka. I'm taking a break, be back in 5." Before he could protest to her over the headset, she set it down on her switchboard and stepped out of the small room.

The sun was just coming up as she entered the alley behind the radio station. That meant that Hotaru, and at least one of her parents were up by now getting ready for the day.

There was a time when she had liked her job, but after Makoto had 'gone missing', it had become far less enjoyable, and more difficult to go through the morning routine. Even more so, since she had to put on a constant 'happy face' for her listening audience when inside she was screaming.

The routine had become frustrating for all of them. The constant living life as if nothing was wrong thing was maddening while grieving for their friend, as well as knowing they could be attacked at any moment. Maddening,oppressive, and downright boring.

All except Ami. By now, Ami was almost certainly awake, preparing to return to work even though that was two days away. The Senshi of Ice was in so much denial that she'd even started packing the night before in preparation for moving in with Makoto as the two had talked about, totally convinced Makoto was still alive and that it was just a 'matter of time before they got her back.'

If Minako didn't know any better, she'd have sworn the bluenette even had a plan.

"She's not coming back, Ami." Minako whispered to herself. Despite witnessing her death, Ami was the only one of them who just didn't accept that Makoto was gone for good. She just kept babbling on about her scientific theories. The rest of them largely ignored her, and. . . were frustrated.

Frustrated because they were powerless to change anything, couldn't convince her to accept reality, and that they couldn't bring the fight to the enemy.

In some ways, the Sekkou were very much like any other number of monsters the Senshi had fought. They showed up at random, caused destruction, then retreated to a place that no one could reach. This had never bothered them about their previous enemies, but the personal way the Sekkou tended to attack at their very lives and use their minds against them, as well as the loss of Makoto made all of them, except Ami, almost impatient for the next fight, if nothing else, just to get it over with.

Some of the lights flickered off as the sun became brighter, either on automatic timers or light sensors. As the light above the studio's alley door flicked off Minako sighed. One more minute until she had to head back to putting on her fake happy face to entertain the world for its own amusement. Not for the first time of late, Minako wished something would happen to prevent her from having to go back.

Resigned to her fate, Minako turned around, heading back inside.

Just before she reached the door, her Senshi communicator began to chime, notifying her of an incoming message.

* * *

"Come out come out, wherever you are." Dark Sailor Moon whispered to herself as she strolled through the darkened garage, in search of her prey. "I know you're hiding in here, little Hotaru. Come out and I'll promise to make your death as painless as possible."

A sound from behind caused her to spin around, but the only movement she saw was a screwdriver rolling slowly to a stop, after apparently falling off a work bench. Growling in frustration, Serena turned back around to continue her search.

There was a loud whooshing sound as Sailor Saturn brought her glaive around, smacking Dark Moon right in the stomach, causing the other to double over.

Hotaru didn't wait for a reply before running out of the garage to find a different hiding place. She opened the nearest closet she could find, and ducked in before closing the door silently. She pressed herself far back between the winter coats, pulling them in front of her to hide herself as much as possible. She stopped moving just in time to hear foot steps coming close.

Because she couldn't see, Hotaru wasn't sure who had thrown the closet door open. She didn't dare move though. After whoever it was had decided they hadn't seen her, the door closed.

She could hear Dark Sailor Mars say to someone, "Find her yet? . . . She's got to be here somewhere. Keep looking!"

Once she heard the footsteps moving away she allowed herself to breath a sigh of relief. She'd heard the commotion in the backyard and looked out the window long enough to see the fight between her parents and several Sekkou going on, and snuck off long enough to call the other Senshi. Ami had advised her to hide until they got there to help and that's exactly what she'd been doing. However she'd had several close calls, and it was becoming more and more difficult to stay out of sight.

She had pushed the coats aside and was just about to leave the closet when the door flew open again without warning. Hotaru opened her mouth to yell out, when the woman in front of her covered her mouth with her hand, holding up a finger in front of her own, motioning for her to be quiet. Then she pushed Hotaru back into the closet, stepped in and closed the door behind them.

"It's me, Hotaru," whispered Michiru. "Haruka-Papa and Setsuna-Mama are trying to draw some of them away." Moving her hand away she said quietly, "We're going to make a run for it."

Sailor Saturn was about to protest, when Sailor Neptune said, "Don't argue with me. When I give the signal, I want you to run until you find Haruka-Papa. Do not stop for anything. Do you understand?"

"What's the signal?" whispered Saturn.

* * *

Dark Moon was making one more sweep of the house before she began searching outside. She was almost back to the garage, when she noticed a bright flash of light inside a closet. She stepped forward, and reached for the handle, whispering eagerly, "Gotcha now you little--"

The next thing she was aware of was the door being blown off it's hinges, and then the roar of water as it crashed into her, throwing her to the ground. Before she could get up, she felt Sailor Saturn stepping on her body, putting all her weight on Serena's head, pressing it into the ground as she continued running back to the garage. Then Dark Moon got trampled by Sailor Neptune on her way in the same direction.

Groaning as she pealed her face off the floor, she yelled "They're back in the garage!" Before she could fully get to her feet, Dark Mars and Jupiter came storming down the hall at top speed. Serena had just enough time to roll over and start to protest before they too stomped on her in there hurry to catch up with the two Senshi.

Swearing under her breath after being trampled by her own team mates, Dark Moon got up and limped after them complaining all the way. When she caught up with them, they had made their way back to the garage.

"Why are you two just standing there?" she demanded as she pushed between the two. Once she could see past them, the automatic garage door started to open, and she said angrily, " . . . No . . ."

Rei said cheerfully, "What do you know? For once we outnumber them!"

"We have a problem with people who beat up others on the street, but when you come into someone's home without knocking to cause harm, it's sure to get our attention! In the name of the moon, we will punish you!"

"So will I, guardian of ice, Sailor Mercury!"

"As will I, Sailor Neptune, acting gracefully!"

Ray scrunched up her face in irritation. "At least there's not more of you. I think I'd have died having to listen to any more--."

Dark moon glared at her enemies as she said, "How dare you interrupt us while trying to achieve our goals! Our lives are hard enough without you constantly getting in our way! In the name of her majesty, we'll crush you!" Then she made a gesture with her hand and yelled, "_**Punishing Heart Attack!**_"

Dark energy flew from her fingertips, blasting the four Senshi off their feet and out of her way, as well as taking off the front of the garage. Before she could admire her handiwork, she noticed Hotaru running full speed down the street away from them.

The three Sekkou ran past the disoriented Senshi intending on overpowering the youth, when a car came around the corner and stopped next to Sailor Saturn long enough for her to climb in before taking off at high speed.

"Why don't they ever just give up?" complained Dark Jupiter.

As the three Sekkou lifted off the ground and started flying after the car, Dark Mars sighed and said, "Well Serena. . . at least your speech was better."

* * *

"I take it they're in the house?" asked Minako as she steered the car around a corner.

"Yes. We need to double back. Michiru-Mama says that Haruka-Papa and Setsuna-Mama need help."

"Alright."

"This isn't the way back home, Minako-Chan."

"I know where I'm going," Minako replies, "I passed them on the way to your house."

Minako sped up the on ramp, nearly running into a mini van as she merged onto the highway. Meanwhile her young passenger double checked her seatbelt was fastened before saying anxiously, "Oh no! Not again!"

They never even saw the first attack from the pursuing Sekkou, but they did see the ground in front of the car explode in front of them.

Minako's defensive driving skills weren't on par with Haruka's, and it showed. Unable to react fast enough to go around the crater, both women screamed as Minako drove her car right into it. The impact was so sudden to Minako that it sounded like a sharp pop more than a crash as the front of her car fell several feet, colliding against the side of the crater, cracking the windshield and crushing the engine like a can.

Hotaru shook her head, then looked around the shattered car to regain her senses. At first she thought a long time must have passed, since it seemed dark. As her vision cleared, she noticed the darkness was caused by a spaghetti noodle of bridges above them partially blocking out the sun.

The airbag slowly deflated, and she saw that Minako had been knocked unconscious. Realizing that for the moment there was nothing she could do for the blonde, Sailor Saturn unbuckled her seat belt and carefully climbed out of the shattered passenger side window.

A little farther down the highway, Haruka was involved in a re-match with her double. After narrowly dodging a punch, she fired off an attack at Dark Neptune at point blank range, sending the woman flying back several feet, giving her time to re-group with Setsuna and Mamoru.

It also gave Dark Pluto, Uranus, Saturn, Neptune, Mercury, and Venus time to form a nice neat circle around the three, and the other three Sekkou that had been chasing the car enough time to join them as well. They could see the rest of the Senshi sprinting to catch up, but they were far enough down the highway that it would be some time yet before they'd be able to join in the fight.

Tuxedo Mask said, "I don't get it. They have us outnumbered two to one . . . make that three to one out here. Why don't they just finish us off already?"

"They're toying with us." growled Sailor Uranus.

"No," Setsuna replied calmly, "They're waiting for something."

"Yeah, but what?"

Before anyone could form an answer, one of the Sekkou fired at the group of heroes, causing the three to scatter again and renew the fight. Once again, the odds changed.

Changed . . . for the worse.

Sailor Uranus had just enough time to regain her footing when she reflexively blocked yet another gloved hand aiming for her jaw. Haruka's block caused her opponent to leave her stomach wide open. Wasting no time in taking advantage of her opponent's misstep, Haruka delivered a well placed kick, causing the other woman to double over.

Cracking her knuckles, Haruka said smugly to the tall white and black clad Sekkou, "Yeah, Makoto used to make the same mistake all the time. She never did quite get the concept of defending her stomach for some reason."

The tall Sekkou rose to her feet and looked at Haruka in a way that brought chills down her spine. The expression on the woman's face wasn't angry or full of rage like their expression usually was. It didn't even look pained or winded from the blow she'd just received. There wasn't anything in it. Her face appeared to almost be doll like in its lack of life. It was that soulless absence of . . . everything . . . in the other's face that made Haruka feel uneasy.

"Europa!", bellowed Dark Saturn, "Stop wasting time with her and get over here!"

Mindlessly, the woman turned and started walking away from Haruka as if she weren't even there.

"Oh no. You're not getting away from me that easy!" Sailor Uranus ran at the Sekkou and leapt into the air in a perfect jump kick aimed squarely at the Sekkou's middle back. When the woman didn't even seem to try to move out of the way, Haruka almost felt sorry for her when she hit her target perfectly, sending her crashing flat on her face.

Previous fights with the Sekkou had taught her not to give them a second's respite, so without hesitation, Haruka jammed her knee with all of her weight in the same place her kick had hit moments ago, pinning the strange woman to the ground.

It had to be extremely painful, but the woman remained eerily quiet, and didn't even try to raise a hand to push her off. She just kept moving her hands and legs, trying to crawl away, seemingly oblivious to the pain and the fact that she couldn't get up far enough to move without doing something about the person on top of her.

This time, Dark Saturn walked up to the two from behind, watching for a moment as Sailor Uranus begin landing blow after blow on her victim remorselessly. "Beryl wasn't kidding. You really do follow orders to the letter."

With a sweep of her weapon, Trista swung at Haruka. It was only years of experience that allowed the Senshi to dodge the sudden attack by rolling to the side away from the two.

Dark Saturn looked the Sekkou up and down disapprovingly as Dark Europa pushed herself up off the ground. "That's enough Makoto. Our target has presented itself and it is time to see if your aim is as good as Queen Beryl says. Prove yourself to me. Defend yourself if need be, but it's time to go after our objective. Understand?"

"Makoto?" Haruka said, startled by what she'd just overheard and as the pieces fell into place in her mind.

With a practiced jump, Haruka threw herself back on her feet, ran up behind Makoto, grabbed her, and spun her around. Staring right into her friend's vacant expression, Haruka shook the taller woman by her shoulders and said, "Come on kid, snap out of it! It's me, remem-- AH!"

Without so much as a thought, Dark Sailor Europa calmly grabbed Sailor Uranus's right hand, and twisted just hard enough to break her friend's wrist, then let go as the woman fell to the ground in surprise and pain. She silently watched just long enough to be sure she would not interfere with her further.

Then as Haruka looked on, a long black javelin formed in Makoto's hands. Ignoring the fight raging around them between the other Sekkou and Senshi, she held the staff expertly, aiming it. When Haruka saw who Makoto was aiming at she forced herself to her feet and yelled an incoherent scream of rage and despair.

Before she did it though, she knew there was no way she'd reach Makoto in time to stop her.

Still rather dazed from the car accident, Sailor Saturn yelped in surprise as she felt someone yank her to her feet.

"You alright?" asked Michiru as she looked her daughter over.

"Yes, but Minako's unconscious."

"I'll go check on her." said Ami as she made her way down to the car.

Just audible over the fight, they heard Haruka yell, "No!"

Everyone looked up just in time to see Sailor Europa the instant she threw the javelin in the air. It flew so fast, that at first no one was sure where it had gone. Then Hotaru let out a soft gasp.

"Oh my god . . .", Whispered Michiru as she looked at Sailor Saturn.

The look on the girl's face was one of total shock. Hotaru had her hands wrapped around the javelin, which was perfectly lined with her heart. She couldn't even bring herself to look down at it. Horrified, she gasped out, "I . . . Mama . . . Papa!"

Ami screamed, "Check for an exit wound!" as she turned away from the car and climbed out of the crater as quickly as she could.

Rei carefully held Hotaru as she said, "It's O.K. , It's O.K. . . . just move your hands so we can-- HA HA!" Rei looked up practically laughing as she said "She's O.K.! _Look_! She's alright!"

Hotaru let go of the weapon and backed away, revealing the smallest puncture in her uniform.

"See?", said Rei, relieved, as Michiru pulled her daughter close, "She managed to _catch_ it! Maybe a scratch if that. Wow, Haruka, I'm impressed. I thought you were a goner."

"Yeah," said Usagi nervously, "but why is it still in the air?"

Ami turned her head, alternating between looking at Hotaru and the javelin, before switching her visor on to examine it. Instead of clattering to the ground when Hotaru let go of the weapon, it stayed right in the air.

"That is strange . . . the way gravity is working on it, it should still be moving. It is not giving out any power readings or anything, it . . . it is just . . ." then Ami gasped, "Oh no! It is not the weapon at all! It's time! Time has . . . "

As realization dawned on them, Hotaru and Michiru followed by Rei, Usagi, and Ami, ran toward the fight going on down the street. A fight that had become strangely quiet only moments before.

Haruka lay on the ground, still clutching her arm as she looked up at Setsuna. ". . . I don't know whether to thank you or curse you at the moment."

"You're welcome." was Setsuna's reply. She was surrounded by a blinding light as she held her key staff delicately, almost uncertainly. She possessed none of her usual confidence.

"Setsuna mama! No! Don't do it!" cried Hotaru as she ran up to Sailor Pluto.

As the girl wrapped her arms around Setsuna, the Senshi of Time said quietly, "It's all right . . . don't worry. You're safe now. That's what matters."

"Don't say that! Don't you say that! There's got to be something we can do!" sobbed Sailor Saturn.

Michiru looked at Setsuna, unsure of what to say. Setsuna nodded slowly in response, and Michiru took that as her way of saying 'It's all right, it had to be done.'

Michiru put her hand on Hotaru's shoulder and said quietly, "Come on . . . it's too late. You . . . we have to let her go."

In response, Hotaru held on tighter and cried, "But you came back last time, right? They said you came back after you did this last time. I'll see you again, right?"

Not letting go of her staff, Setsuna said softly, "I'm sorry, Hotaru." Then she looked up at the rest of the senshi and said, "Go. We've done all we can here."

Before anyone moved, there was an ear piercing scream from a few yards away. All of the Senshi other than Hotaru turned to to see where the sound had come from.

"That's right, I forgot." Setsuna looked at Dark Sailor Pluto without pity. "Didn't anyone tell you? If time stops in the dimension you're in . . . the gods make no distinction on who actually stopped it."

"_Screw_ _you_, you _bitch_!" screeched the young looking Sekkou. She looked at Dark Saturn and then at Sailor Pluto angrily and growled, "You planned this from the beginning you two timing double crossing little _cra_--" She tried to throw her glowing time staff on the ground. The second it left her hands, it stopped in mid air, and she froze, a look of terror and rage permanently stuck on her face.

"The resulting explosion from both myself and Dark Pluto will almost certainly take out some of the Sekkou. Look on the bright side. Things will be more even the next time you see them." Then to Hotaru, she said quietly, "And . . . I'm sorry. I couldn't let anything happen to you. It's all I can say."

Ami looked at Makoto, frozen just as she had been mere seconds after tossing her javelin at Hotaru. "Is . . . is that Mako-chan? Will . . . will she be all right?"

"There's no time. As strange as it sounds, I can only stop time for so long." Setsuna took one last breath before she closed her eyes as the light surrounding her became brighter. "Now go."

The Senshi saw a bright flash of light, and before any of them could say anything more, the senshi, including an unconscious Minako,minus Setsuna and Mamoru, were safely in front of Haruka and Michiru's house. A few moments later, there was a tremendous explosion in the distance, followed by a gut wrenching silence.


	29. Chapter 29: Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

**Double Jeopardy**

**Chapter 29: Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow**

"No!", Sailor Uranus screamed.

Mamoru turned in the direction Haruka was looking and saw something fly through the air toward the other Senshi down the street. Even though he knew he would never get there in time, he started to run in their direction to help. Then without warning, a blast slammed into him from behind, knocking his top hat and mask away and throwing him several feet. For several seconds, he was disoriented. He immediately started to stand up, yelling out when he felt sharp pain from his right ankle.

Despite realizing it was almost certainly broken, he clenched his teeth together and forced himself to stay standing, taking a moment to regain his senses. He looked in the direction of his friends, whose aid he and Haruka had been coming to, and saw that they where suddenly gone as if they'd vanished into thin air. Then he realized Haruka was gone as well. Slowly, it occurred to him that he may have been knocked unconscious, and the fight was already over. But if that was the case, why did they leave him? Still feeling confused, he slowly turned around, and was shocked by what he saw.

It took Mamoru a few seconds to identify the two Sekkou. He limped a step back, and shook his head slowly, both in shock and to try to clear the ringing sound from his ears. Just a few steps behind him, Amara lay motionless, with her neck twisted at an unnatural position. Beside her was Mechelle, laying face down, who looked like she'd practically been crushed into the ground. Both were motionless, and almost certainly dead. While a part of him had known the fight between the Sekkou and Senshi could lead to the Senshi having to kill their opponents, he couldn't help but wonder if perhaps his friends may have actually had gone too far.

Despite the fact that he knew the Sekkou were thoroughly evil, looking at the two broken bodies lying before him made him feel strangely sad. They appeared to be almost vulnerable, as if in death they'd regained some of their humanity, if only at the very end.

After a short time, he became vaguely aware that someone was standing beside him. He heard Usagi say softly, "It's all right."

"Usagi, I-", He turned to look at her, and when he realized he was looking at Dark Sailor Moon, he tried to move away from her. Too late, he realized he'd moved too suddenly as a wave of pain shot up his leg, causing him to collapse back to the ground. Slowly pushing himself away from her he said angrily, "Get away from me, you monster!"

"Monster?", Serena said, as a look of sadness crossed her face. "But . . . But Darien, sweet Darien, it's me, Serena! Don't you remember me? It's been so long. I knew they were wrong when they said you were dead." Tears slowly ran down her cheeks, as she smiled and compassionately offered her hand to help him up.

Before Mamoru could say anything, Dark Sailor Saturn stepped over a charred skeletal corpse and gave a frustrated growl before yelling, "We don't take prisoners, you dolt! Finish him off!"

Dark Sailor Moon stood defensively in front of Mamoru as dark energy crackled around her. "He's mine! You can't take him from me again!"

Dark Europa started to move toward Mamoru, as did the surviving Sekkou, but Trista raised her hand as she said, "No, wait." Then to Serena, "If you bring him, Beryl will just take him away for herself, and that's if you're lucky. Better for you to kill him now." As an evil smile spread across her lips, she added, "Besides, you know he's not really your 'sweet Darien', right?"

"I . . . I . . .but . . .", Serena looked quickly to Mamoru then back at Trista, clearly unsure of what to do. "Darien or not, he's mine. You can't just-"

Trista tilted her head slightly, as she listened to approaching sirens then yelled impatiently,"Fine! We don't have time to argue about this. He's yours. That is until Beryl finds out and decides what to do with him. Take him." Then louder so that the rest of the Sekkou could hear, she said, "Return!"

* * *

Once they realized that the Sekkou had left, apparently with Mamoru, they headed straight to the nearest emergency room to have Haruka and Minako's injuries treated. For the sake of caution, the attending physician had recommended that Minako be hospitalized over night. Ami and Usagi gathered the cats, smuggling them into the hospital with back packs and met the others in Minako's hospital room to decide what more could be done.

Many years ago, Haruka had found these meetings that the Guardian Senshi insisted on holding to be nothing more than pointless debates about what to do next. While she eventually came to appreciate how they formed a sense of camaraderie among the group, and occasionally managed to accidentally produced results, her opinion of them had changed little. She usually cracked jokes to her partner, or teased the younger women while killing time until they ended. This time, however, she was unusually quiet. But then, everyone was unusually quiet.

Even Usagi was silent. Rei was wondering if it was either shock at Mamoru being abducted, or if perhaps the blonde was starting to get used to it. It was obvious she was worried about him, and was sniveling occasionally, but so far, she'd kept herself from bawling, which was a marked improvement for her.

Hotaru was the first to break the silence by saying, "I just wish we had gone to the hospital that Dr. Mizuno works at."

Rei said, "I'm sure that would have been preferable to everyone, but it can't be helped. That's too far away, and we needed to make sure Minako was all right."

"Those doctors are overreacting anyway," grumbled Minako from her bed. "There's no reason to keep me here. I feel like a million buckets. It's just a couple of bruised ribs and-"

Ami said, "Any time a person loses consciousness for more than a few minutes, it has the potential to be a serious situation, Minako."

Usagi chimed in, "Well, I think-"

"I think," said Luna, "that you are all avoiding what we really need to discuss here."

"Yeah?", replied Rei, "And what do you think that is, exactly?"

Without hesitation, Artemis stated, "Our next move. We need to-"

"Our next move . . .", Haruka echoed.

Michiru said, "I don't mean to be crass, but do you cats ever listen to yourselves? Do you realize how cold you sound?"

Haruka nodded in agreement. "I don't know if you've been keeping score here, but we just got our butts handed to us. Minako and Hotaru were nearly killed, Setsuna _died_, Mamoru is god knows where, and Makoto's one of-"

"None of that matters!" Luna said, as she twitched her whiskers and flattened her ears angrily. "We all know the risks that come with what we do. We are as heartbroken and concerned about the situation we're in as you are. But we need to focus on what is important right now." Raising her eyebrows and relaxing her ears slightly, she added, "The others I expected to hear this from . . . but not you two."

Michiru said, "We have spent a lot of time with all of you over the last several years." Looking around the room she continued, "It is not that we do not value our mission. We willingly risk life and limb every time we fight alongside you. I know there was a time when we would fanatically be the first two to put the objective before absolutely anything." After a pause, she glanced at Hotaru and finished, "But is it that hard to believe that maybe . . . just maybe, over the years of being in contact with the rest of you that we have finally started to learn what is truly important?"

"I know how you feel," said Minako as she sat up in bed, "But Artemis and Luna are right. We don't have the luxury of grieving for our losses right now. What we need is the same thing we have needed all along. A plan."

Haruka fidgeted with the brace on her wrist absently, then looked at Minako and said, "So, I take it you have one then?" When she didn't answer, she looked around the room. "Well? Anyone? This is what we need, so let's hear it." After searching each person's face and letting a long, uneasy silence fill the room, Haruka said, "That's what I thought." There is absolutely nothing we can do. And until a realistic idea presents itself, I think what is best is that we take time to recover."

Haruka motioned to Hotaru and Michiru to follow her, but as she started to reach for the door, she heard Ami said almost inaudibly, "Well . . . as it happens, I do have a suggestion."

Everyone turned to look at Ami as she reached into the back pack she had brought Artemis in and retrieved something small and silver. Holding it out in her hands carefully, she explained, "I located this when I was dragged into their universe. It is one of the devices they use to return to their dimension of origin."

Usagi perked up a bit and asked, "Does that mean we can go try to save them?"

Rei tilted her head as she leaned closer to look at the small item. "Does it work?"

"Near as I can tell, yes. Assuming there are no objections, there is no reason why we could not leave to rescue Makoto and Mamoru right now. We would also have the upper hand, as they do not seem to know we have it. There is just one problem."

Usagi cringed and asked, "There's no chance it will suck us into dinosaur world or something is there?

"We would be in a world surrounded by an entire population of people who want to kill us?", asked Hotaru.

"We'd be hopelessly lost?", asked Minako.

"No," said Aim, "the problem is more severe than any of those possibilities. I'm sure some of you are wondering why I have yet to mention this to you before now, and I'm sorry. The reason is due to an issue that has crossed my mind since I acquired it. The problem is, we would be relying on complicated technology that none of us, not even myself, fully understand." She paused as she held up the pendent to examine it closer before continuing, "If something, any complications arise with the technology over there, whoever goes would be trapped on the other side, unable to return."

Haruka carefully took the item from Ami and examined it in her hands. "So, what you're saying is, we should take this shuttle bus to the devil's house to try to save our friends, with no guarantee of success, and not knowing if we would be able to get home?"

Ami sighed then said, "Well, actually, I was thinking just myself and Usagi had to go. There is no reason why the rest of you should be put at risk."

Luna jumped up on Minako's bed to get to a slightly higher vantage point. "Out of the question. We can't let Usagi take that kind of a chance, and going by yourself would be suicide."

"That's why we're going with you," said Minako as Rei started to help her up. "There's no way we're going to let you have all the fun.

"Yeah, that's right, Ami-Chan. We're a team. We all go or no one goes," Said Hotaru.

"That's enough!" Haruka said behind clenched teeth. "It's too risky. No one's going anywhere." Then, she let the pendent slip from her hand, and the second it touched the ground, there was a loud cracking sound followed by a small flash of sparks as she crushed it with the heel of her foot, causing a short electrical discharge to wind around her shoe.

For a long moment, the only sound in the room was Usagi trying not to cry. Finally Hotaru said, "Haruka-Papa, do you realize what you just did? Even if you didn't think now was a good time, you could have suggested that Ami-"

Michiru cut her daughter off by saying, "Ami would have just convinced the others to go now, as soon as we left the room. She did the only thing possible to keep everyone from doing something foolish."

Rei glared at the two older Senshi and bit back, "By doing something foolish herself? We could have-",

Once again motioning for Michiru and Hotaru to follow her, Haruka said quietly, "That's enough. Get some rest, Minako. We'll think of something else. We're leaving." When her daughter didn't move, Haruka turned to her, somewhat annoyed and said, "Hotaru? Did you hear me?"

Bending down to pick up the peaces of the smashed pendent, Hotaru said, "I'm staying. Ami, there's got to be a way you can-"

"It will be alright, Hotaru." Ami said softly as she blinked back tears. "Do not cause any trouble. Go with your parents. I . . . I will see you at school. Your mother and papa are right. It was not the most appropriate suggestion. We can think of something else."

Hotaru slowly let the smashed bits slip from her fingers, and pushed past Haruka without a word.

Unsure what to say, Minako asked, "Will she be alright?"

Haruka looked at the empty door way, then back at the other Senshi. "I don't know." Then she said quietly, "I'm sorry. I did what was best." Then she guided Michiru out the door, carefuly closing it behind her.

"I'm sorry, too, Haruka," Ami said as she ruffled through her bag again for the second pendent. "But I have to do what I feel is best as well."

"Wait," Usagi sniffled, "You had two of them?"

Ami nodded as she located the second pendent and said, "Yes. The one I gave to Haruka was the damaged one that I got off of Dark Sailor Venus when she was staying with Rei. This one is one that I stole while I was stuck on their side of the portal."

Holding it in her hands, Ami said, "I meant what I said earlier. Myself and Usagi have to go, the rest of you do not. No one has to go who thinks this is a bad idea."

Rei scoffed then said, "Are you kidding? I'll do it just to see the reaction from Haruka when we get back."

"And I'm not about to let you three have all the fun," said Minako. Besides, even if we get stuck there, the food has to be better than what they have at this hospital."

Luna looked at Artemis and said, "You know . . . they would be canned cat food without us."

The white cat raised his front paws and said, "Right. We couldn't get out of the hospital without being seen without you, anyway."

Usagi smiled as she blinked back tears, looked at her friends and said, "I appreciate the help. I think Ami would have been doomed with just me at her side."

"Everyone ready?", Ami asked. When she didn't get an answer, she activated the portal and said, "Just watch your step when you get through, and it will probably be dark."

One by one, she watched her friends walk through the portal. When she was the last one left in the room, she looked around the room as if making sure they hadn't forgotten anything, then looked at the portal. What ever happened, Ami knew she wouldn't regret it. She just hoped the others felt the same way.

Just as she stepped through, she said, "I'm coming, Makoto."

Once she was through, the portal disappointed in a flash of light. It would be hours before anyone noticed any of them were missing.


End file.
